The Emerald Phoenix
by Primordial Vortex
Summary: For his entire life, Izuku wanted nothing more than to be a hero. Hearing his Idol say he couldn't do it without a Quirk almost broke him. Yet when put into a situation where even other heroes were almost helpless bystanders, he didn't hesitate. And in doing so, he finally awoke what he had longed for. Quirk!Izuku Harem
1. Rebirth

**Here I go again. I can never quite seem to help myself, can I?**

 **So, this was one of three(four?) ideas I had for a** _ **My Hero Academia**_ **story. Basically, I've been wanting to write a story with this type of power for quite a while, and when the idea struck it was like a lightning bolt. I'll describe the other ideas near the bottom. See if I can't drum up some interest in them. If someone else feels like taking them as a challenge, I really would love that.**

 **One thing I want to get a feel for before we begin; How do you guys feel about some modifications being made to a couple Quirks? I'm not talking about changing them entirely either. More like some… lateral modifications maybe? As an example, I'm thinking of changing one Quirk from a Mutant Type (always present) to the Transformation Type. They would amount more to Quality of Life adjustments and maybe offer some more combat potential. Another example would be learning how to use the quirk in a new way, similar to how Tsuyu learned how to camouflage herself in the manga. (Which some frogs can do, but not all.)**

 **Currently under a working title.**

 **Not much more world-building to do in this one, so let's get right into it.**

 **-]|[-**

 **Chapter I: Rebirth**

 **-]|[-**

"If you truly wish to help people, becoming a doctor or a police officer are equally noble pursuits." The words came from his sunken lips easily. The speaker was a gaunt, haggard looking man. He was skinny to the point of looking like skin and bones, and his lankiness and overly-long limbs made him look sickly. His dull, spikey yellow hair hung limply on his strangely angular head in a disheveled mess, with two long bangs coming down nearly to mid-chest. He would look every bit the homeless bum in his overly large clothes were it not for his eyes. The whites of his eyes were black, as if in perpetual darkness. His pupils though? They _shone_ a brilliant, mesmerizing blue, hiding such power within them that it could steal a Villain's breath away.

They were the only giveaway that this man was truly the Greatest Hero in the world.

All Might.

But that didn't matter to would-be hero Izuku Midoriya. Not when his hero… his _idol_ … had just told him he didn't believe he could be a hero. His glassy, now-fake smile hung on his lips as he broke out into a heavy flop sweat. His pupils were trembling in their sockets, mere pinpricks now really. The young, dark-green-haired young boy had practically just had the rug pulled out from under his feet.

All Might let out a sigh, seeing how his words were sending his young fan's world crashing all around him. Truly, this brought him no pleasure. No joy. Perhaps if the boy had any visible training, he could have said differently. But the boy clearly had naught but a dream in his head, and had never actually worked to accomplish it. At least not physically… or in terms of personality. The boy hadn't even been able to look him in the eye when he asked if a Quirkless person could become a hero. Instead, he trembled and closed them.

Izuku probably knew what he would say long before All Might said it. The man sighed again, "Officers may be mocked… but they are still a vital force. My best friend is a police officer." He didn't know why he added that last bit, but something about the kid looking so despondent forced the words out of him. Anything to put even the tiniest bit of cheer back into his young fan. But the boy didn't react. All Might closed his eyes for a moment, before he started walking away, "I'm sorry Midoriya-shonen. It's great to dream… but you also need to be realistic." He closed the door behind him and started walking downstairs, leaving the young boy who had so carelessly hitched a ride on his leg alone on the roof. "Sorry to just leave you like that, kid… but I need to get this guy-" He patted his pockets where he had left the slime villain he had captured inside a bottle, only to freeze. He looked down and felt his blood chill as he realized the bottles were gone.

Izuku didn't cry. Perhaps he was beyond tears at the moment. For the barest moment, he looked at the edge of the roof in temptation, the words of his… once-friend Katsuki Bakugo filling his mind. For a moment, he wondered if a quick step off the side wouldn't be for the best. No one cared about him but his mom. He had no friends… No ambitions…

Nothing but the dream his idol had just destroyed.

The moment passed and he made his way down to the streets, still utterly despondent. He was stuck in his own head. ' _It's time to start thinking seriously about your future._ ' The words rung hollow in his head, ' _Even the best of the best said it…_ ' A tear finally fell as he hugged his precious Hero Notebook Vol. XIII to his chest, ' _Don't cry… you already knew. You always knew._ ' Another fell. ' _But… I tried so hard!_ ' He began to grit his teeth, trying to keep more from falling. ' _So hard to ignore reality!_ '

An explosion rang out, startling him so badly he almost dropped his notebook. He stopped stock still, ' _Even now… my feet just brought me here. Even when I already know…_ ' He closed his eyes, ' _I shouldn't go… I'll just make a fool of myself!_ ' His feet moved, and his eyes widened as he got closer. Dozens of onlookers were there, watching the events. Gawking.

Izuku forced his way in, and let out a gasp, ' _Oh no!_ ' It was the slime villain! The same slime villain that All Might had saved him from! The same slime villain… _that All Might must have dropped when Izuku grabbed his leg._ Shame and self-recrimination filled the young teen, ' _It's all my fault! All Might! He can't do anything right now! His time limit!_ ' He screamed in his own mind.

Off to the other side, All Might himself was clutching his incredibly wounded side screaming the same thing in his own mind, ' _I was too distracted by my time limit!_ ' His teeth were grinding as he could do nothing but watch, ' _Even after I admonished that young fan… pathetic. I'm PATHETIC!_ '

One of the civilians asked, "Why aren't the heroes doing anything?" It caught both of their attentions, for different reasons.

"The villain caught a kid." Another responded, "Some junior-high student. It's been like this for some time."

' _No way!_ ' Izuku clapped a hand over his mouth, ' _I felt like I would die in seconds! How… how can they…?_ '

Another civilian asked, "Wasn't that the guy All Might was chasing earlier? Did he get away from even him?" A din rose, as the bystanders started talking, wondering why their Number One Hero wasn't doing anything.

Izuku and All Might were both full of nothing but self-recrimination, one calling himself pathetic and the other begging for a hero to come to fix his terrible, foolish mistake before someone died.

And then Izuku saw who the student was.

His notebook clattered to the floor and he was rushing straight towards Kacchan's terrified face before his mind even knew what his legs were doing. "No kid!" A pro hero yelled as he saw the little brat rushing in.

' _Page 25!_ ' But Izuku moved faster than he had ever moved before in his life, ripping his backpack off his shoulders and slinging it towards the monster's eyes, the edge hitting it in the one spot that was a target. The sludge recoiled slightly and temporarily freed Katsuki's mouth to allow him some air. Izuku grabbed onto to it and tried futilely to rip the sludge off his former friend. But the monster recovered swiftly and a slimy tentacle smacked him away from it.

He hit the ground and rolled over some flames, groaning in pain. The heroes panicked and made to rush forward, not willing to let another student get caught. All Might himself was trying to force himself back into his hero form to save the kid. But Izuku found strength he didn't know he had and somehow got on all fours, "Give…" His green eyes started to shimmer weakly, "GIVE KACCHAN BACK!" He roared.

Later… long after it was all over… Izuku would swear up and down that he heard something similar to a violin string snapping inside his head. Nothing of the sort happened, but Izuku would attribute this as the moment _it_ happened.

His whole body started glowing a brilliant emerald and his eyes began to shine the same way All Might's eyes did. He reached a hand out to the incredulous-looking Katsuki and the green glow enveloped him.

And then Izuku yanked and Katsuki was ripped away from the villain as if his captor wasn't even there. Katsuki rolled on the floor and coughed as he came to a stop near the boy, "Deku…" He rasped out as he lifted himself up, "What the fuck…" He growled out, "What the fuck is this?!" He yelled as Izuku stared at the fading glow on his hand as if it were the holy grail itself.

"YOU FUCKING LITTLE BRAT!" The slime roared and made to attack them.

Izuku – who had been desperately trying to hold onto the fading feeling inside of him – startled and started glowing again. He jabbed his palm forward and a visible blast of pure force rocketed out. It appeared to be compacting even the air in front of it as it sped towards the villain. When it impacted, the monster blew apart into medium-sized chunks.

As a bystander, All Might had been completely and utterly moved by the little Quirkless kid acting more like a hero than all of the heroes there put together. It was what had inspired him once more. What had unburied the spark of life left in him, after all of the bitterness of the past five years had ruthlessly tried to crush it as his body wasted away, ' _Did… did he lie?_ ' He had frozen mid transformation. He eyed the situation closely as it unfolded, ' _No… no… he looks completely and utterly flabbergasted. He's even more shocked than I am._ ' He started to grin and almost relaxed as he watched the boy blow the slime villain apart, and that proved to be a nearly fatal error.

" **I'LL KILL YOU!** " The villain roared to the heavens as it forced itself back together. Izuku's untrained blast had been unfocused and had lost power as it travelled. It hadn't had enough force when it impacted to blow the villain into small enough pieces to knock him out the way All Might had done earlier.

"Shit!" All Might coughed up a bit of blood and started forcing himself to transform as the villain formed a spear-tip-like tentacle and drove it straight towards Izuku before anyone could react.

Well, almost anyone.

Katsuki forced his rage and shock down and kicked Izuku out of the way. The spear tentacle pierced his left shoulder rather than his chest. It still forced the boy back and into the ground with an agonized cry. The slime stayed in his body even as it separated from the main tentacle and All Might saw red. He forced himself into hero form and his fingers dug right into the steel lamppost and nearly ripped right through it. Another cry from Izuku distracted him for a very short moment. He almost stopped what he was doing as he saw a brilliant blue flame erupt in the boy's injury, but refused to allow himself yet another mistake. He rushed forward and intercepted the villain, whose eyes widened in terror.

All Might… the greatest hero who always wore a smile as he saved people…

He was snarling in rage. " **DETROIT… SMASH!** " The villain was ended with a single swing of his fist. Mt. Lady was forced to use her arms and body to shield the pedestrians as even the very air moved out of the way from All Might's punch. A whirlwind erupted around them, extinguishing the fires even the water hero Backdraft hadn't been able to put out.

And then it was over, and All Might wasted no time getting to Izuku's side. " **Are you all right, mid- young one?** " He cut himself off at the last minute. Better not let out that they knew each other, ' _ **What the hell is that blue fire? How the hell did he awaken not one but two quirks?**_ ' Just as he was about to speak again, the fire vanished and left behind unmarred skin. ' _ **Regeneration?!**_ ' He watched Izuku pat his former wound in wonder as everyone who had been watching erupted in cheers, " **Even though I admonished you…** " a small bit of blood flew from his lips, which he quickly wiped away to keep anyone from seeing except for Izuku, " **I wasn't putting what I said into practice. I'm truly pathetic…** "

"All Might…" Izuku whispered.

"Kid… what the hell were you thinking?" Death Arms stomped over, "Just what were you thinking, you reckless little kid? You could have gotten yourself killed even with that amazing Quirk!" No one saw Katsuki's fists clench.

Izuku didn't know what possessed him, but he spoke again, "But… but… I don't have a Quirk…."

' _ **Ah, denial. He's probably in shock.**_ ' The analytical portion of All Might's mind brought up the explanation.

"Pull the other one." Kamui Woods threw in his two cents.

Izuku laughed a little hysterically, "I've never… I've never had a quirk."

"And you still threw yourself into that!?" Mt. Lady walked over and began to add to the admonishment as she heard this. She could tell the kid wasn't lying and also recognized the astonishment the boy was feeling, and that just frustrated her beyond belief. To think a little formerly-Quirkless kid was a bigger hero than _her_. "You could have gotten yourself killed! You're lucky your Quirk suddenly manifested! What the HELL was going through your fool head?! I've never seen such recklessness in-"

Years of resentment and mistreatment had built up to this moment, and the idea that _he had a Quirk_ was starting to put a high in him that no drug could have, "None of you were doing a damn thing!" He spat out uncharacteristically, rage tinting his tone. The heroes recoiled. Even now, even now that he had a Quirk… even now they thought him useless! "The only one of you that did your job was Backdraft! ' _Wait for a suitable quirk!?_ ' What kind of heroes are you!" The pro heroes started to get angry, and All Might started to get worried. This… this was a _lot_ of resentment he hadn't sensed earlier. Perhaps he'd been a fool not to. Even if things were better now, he well remembered bygone days before he became who he was today. Back when he had been just Toshinori Yagi. Back when he had been just like this boy. "You want to know why I ran in?" Izuku trembled, "I don't know why!" Everything stopped, "My legs moved before my mind even realized what was going on!" Everyone's breath was stolen from them. All Might began to grin even wider. Even with the resentment in him… this boy had the greatest potential for heroism he'd seen in decades.

But before he could say another word, the day seemed to catch up to the young boy. Izuku passed out, and it was only All Might's reflexes that kept him from smashing the back of his head on the ground. " **This kid…** " It was a good thing All Might always smiled, because he could pass off his shit-eating grin. Even the heroes who had been so angry at his recklessness couldn't help but smile in admiration. " **Sorry, but no interviews today… I'll be bringing him home.** " All Might declared and started to walk away with Izuku in his arms. He stopped and then turned somewhat sheepishly, " **Err… does anyone know where he lives?** " Practically everyone face-faulted.

Katsuki glared at the boy in All Might's arms in fury… but there was nothing he could do right now. But Deku would get what was coming to him soon, "Musutafu." He spat out as he gathered his things and stalked away, "Big building next to two others. There's a number 2 on it."

" **Thank you, young one.** " All Might stared after the light-blonde for a moment, seeing the resentment in him, though he didn't know why. Katsuki snarled at someone coming to talk to him and just walked away and into the streets. All Might turned and started jogging away, stopping for a brief moment when he saw Izuku's discarded notebook on the floor. He picked it up and then leapt away in one bound.

 **-]|[-**

Inko Midoriya was fretting as she wondered where her son was. The dark-green haired, slightly dumpy woman was pacing back and forth, trying to avoid hyperventilating. Her son was almost never this late, and every single time he was, he'd come home with one bruise or another. It was enough to drive even a mother with a stronger constitution spare. But Izuku was truly her son, and she was fighting panic. A strong knock on the door almost had her jumping out of her skin. She raced to the door, and had to fight to stay conscious as _All Might himself was revealed with her Izuku PASSED OUT IN HIS ARMS._ "IZUKU!" She screamed shrilly, "Izuku, honey!"

" **I assume you are Izuku-shonen's mother?** " Inko nodded rapidly to All Might's question, " **May I come in? Your son has had…** _ **quite**_ **a day.** " He chuckled to himself as the woman practically tried to haul him inside. He quirked an eyebrow at the All Might door-sign with 'Izuku' written on it, but that was nothing compared to when he stepped into the room, " **Grk!** " He choked. His form was literally everywhere in the room. Everything from action figures to the floor rug were All Might. " **…This is a bit much…** " he chuckled as he laid the boy on his mattress. He stepped out of the room and had to fight to keep from wobbling. He had long since passed his limit. He was starting to let off little wisps of steam.

Inko's eyes widened when she saw what was happening, "All… All Might?" The man in his hero form was a giant, absolutely covered in muscles and his two long bangs stood straight like horns. Generally, he wasn't known for steaming though.

" **Crap…** " He sighed as the steam practically exploded from his form. Inko's eyes widened and she backed away in apprehension, "That's two Midoriya about to see my true self today…" Her eyes widened to epic proportions as the hero's voice changed, and almost fainted away entirely as his true form was revealed.

"Wha-what?!" She stammered, eyeing the man so like her son's hero and yet nothing like him at all. She started to hyperventilate.

The man reached out to steady her, "Calm yourself, Midoriya-san. Deep breaths." Even now, he couldn't help but help people. He helped her into a chair and had to excuse himself as he poured her a glass of water. He chuckled when she finally calmed down, "I can't tell if Izuku-shonen gets his skittishness from you or if you get it from him." He tried to joke.

She laughed a little strangely, "S-sorry. You…"

"Shocked you?" Toshinori sighed, "It's an unfortunate fact of life… I'm getting old… and I suffered an injury years ago. What you see now… I'm a shell of my former self and am down to three hours a day in my hero form." He admitted sadly.

"I… I see…" Inko knew what this meant. At some point… some time _soon_ … the Symbol of Peace would retire. Izuku would be devastated, "D-does Izuku know?" She wasn't sure why he would, but there had to be a reason for All Might to bring him home personally, right?

"He does." Toshinori confirmed, "I saved him from a Villain today… and my time limit ran out. He was… quite shocked." He chuckled dryly as the woman managed a deadpan stare. He turned and looked over towards the room, "You have quite the son, Midoriya-san. He impressed me quite a bit today."

She looked down, "Ever since he could understand what he saw, you were his hero. Since he realized heroes existed, he wanted nothing more than to be one. To follow in your footsteps. Meeting you must have been a dream come true for him." Toshinori's grin widened, "H-how did he impress you?" She fidgeted as she blurted out the question, "I love him more than anything but… but…"

"He's Quirkless?" Toshinori asked dryly. She nodded helplessly, "And yet, he was more of a hero today than some professionals." She gasped at his words, "Midoriya-san-"

"Inko." She interrupted, and then blushed at doing so.

"Inko then." Toshinori smiled again, "I won't mince words, Inko. Your son did quite a reckless thing today. A villain escaped from me because I was too concerned with my time limit. He captured a young student with an explosion quirk-"

"Katsuki!" Inko clapped her hands to her mouth.

"Yes, that does sound similar to what Izuku-shonen called him." Toshinori mused for a moment, "Right… Katsuki-san was captured and the villain – being made of slime – proved quite difficult to capture as none of the pro heroes could do any damage to him. All the while… I could only stand on the sidelines and watch, feeling helpless." His grin split his face, "Your Quirkless son rushed out where all the heroes were standing still and managed to buy young Katsuki some much needed air." Inko looked faint, "Like every true hero… his legs moved before his brain caught up."

"Izuku…" Inko was about to cry, hearing her son's idol speak so well of him.

"His actions inspired me to move and I forced myself through the pain and back into my hero form." He leaned back in his chair, "Only before I could do anything…" His grin was blinding, "Your son awoke his Quirk…" Inko could handle no more. She fainted dead away. His grin became a little strained, "I hope… this isn't going to become a thing."

 **-]|[-**

Izuku jerked awake suddenly, springing up in his bed and gasping, He was trembling and sweating heavily… almost feverishly. His… his dream…

It had felt so real. So, so _real_! Slowly, his breath calmed and he flopped back down, grimacing slightly when he realized they'd probably need to do laundry now. He clenched his fists. For a moment… for one fleeting moment… he'd been normal. He'd been just like everybody else. He'd even met his idol on top of it!

And now he was back in the waking world. Still Quirkless… still worthless…

Still Deku.

He eyed his All Might posters and figurines, before turning his head towards his desk. He knew what lay on it. An innocent little paper that would determine his whole life ahead of him. His school ranking list. And only one name was on it despite the many, many available slots. U.A. High.

The dream… had been much too real. Even now, dream All Might's words rang in his head. ' _You need to be realistic._ ' He ground his teeth and got up with a groan, marching over to the table. He grabbed a pen and hovered it over the page, ready to cross out his dream school…

But he couldn't do it. Even with All Might's admonishment… he just couldn't do it. With another groan, he slammed the pen down and left his fanboy's-wet-dream room. Even if it had felt so real… even if he was still Quirkless little Deku… he still wanted nothing more than to be a hero. Just like, "ALL MIGHT!" He gasped in shock as he entered his dining room and saw the man sitting at his table.

"Yo!" Toshinori waved with a grin, "Decided to finally rejoin the living, Midoriya-shonen?"

Izuku trembled. All Might was sitting in his dining room. All Might was in his gaunt, skinny, powerless form in his dining room. The gaunt, skinny, powerless form he'd created in his dream that couldn't possibly be real. "All… All Might! Then…"

"My name is Toshinori Yagi, Midoriya-shonen. And no, it wasn't a dream." His gaunt grin widened to amazing proportions.

"Izuku!" his mom practically knocked him over in a flying hug-tackle. "Oh, honey! I'm so proud of you! What was your quirk? What was it?!" She had such a happy, energetic grin on her face even as some tears streamed from her eyes. Izuku hadn't seen his mother look this excited…this blindingly _happy…_ for _anything_ … in … almost ten years… Ever since she had been able to do nothing but cry on his shoulder, when he'd been declared Quirkless.

"It…" His eyes started to water, "It… it was real?" His lips started to quiver. "B-but how? I… I was diagnosed! I have an extra joint on my toe! I'm Quirkless!"

"So do I." The words froze the two of them, "Our circumstances are different, shonen, but the results are the same." Wasn't that an understatement of things? But even if his true form was revealed to Inko, he wasn't planning on spilling his _other_ secret to her so soon. "I don't know why your Quirk lay dormant for so long. But it appeared! As for the toe…? Not a clue. I'm not a doctor." Toshinori could definitely see the resemblance, as the mother and son tightly embraced one another and opened up the waterworks. His giant grin turned into a tender smile as he witnessed the moment, "Indeed… it was very real young man. You developed quite a splendid Quirk during that battle." His grin dropped as the two remembered he was there, "In fact, if it weren't for the look of shock, joy, and wonder on your face as it happened, I would have assumed you had been lying to me about being Quirkless!"

"I would never!" Izuku jumped and waved his arms, as if trying to ward off the not-accusation.

Toshinori let out a chuckle, "Relax. You could never have faked that look on your face. I had… much the same look on mine the first time I used _my_ Quirk."

"Izukuuuu!" Inko whined, "What was your Quirk? Toshinori-san wouldn't tell me!"

"I'm… I'm not sure." Izuku admitted sheepishly.

"To be honest, I'm not either. The only thing I can say for certain is that it is likely an Emitter type." Toshinori told them. "You displayed three abilities… though really two of them may just be connected." He raised his hand, one finger pointing, "You enveloped Katsuki Bakugo with a green aura like the one over your own body and easily pulled him out of the slime."

"Ah!" Inko let out a happy squeak, "That's like a better version of my quirk! I can do the same, but I need multiple motions and can only use it on smaller objects." She looked utterly ecstatic.

Toshinori let another grin out, and continued with a second finger raised, "Two, you were able to project a force blast… similar to one of my punches. Weaker… much weaker… but similar."

"You even changed the _weather_ …" Izuku still sounded completely _awed_ at that fact.

Toshinori grinned, "And three…" He suppressed a wince as he glanced momentarily at Inko, "When you were injured, your wound was enveloped in a blue flame and completely healed!"

"Injured!" Inko shrieked, and started needling her son overprotectively, "Where were you hurt Izuku? Does it hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?"

All Might deadpanned at that last question. The resemblance between these two was almost hilarious. Almost.

"Mom, I'm fine! I'm fine! Look!" He pulled his shirt down slightly, "See? there aren't even any marks. I feel fine."

Inko let out a breath, "Please be more careful baby. I couldn't bare…" She started to sniffle.

Izuku pulled her into a hug. "No, no, no, please don't cry mom. I'm okay!"

A whistle went off, "Ahh, the tea!" Inko hurried back into the kitchen and came back with a kettle and some cups. She poured them all some, "I hope you enjoy, Toshinori-san."

"This looks like one of my favorites. Excellent taste, Inko-san." Toshinori grinned as he took a sniff. "Now…" He brought the serious air back, "I have an idea I would like to test." He looked around for something small, and placed a simple salt shaker on the table in front of Izuku, "Lift this."

"W-with my quirk?" Izuku started to stammer, "But this is too sudden? How do I even do that? I never had a quirk before." Mumblemumblemumblemumblemumble

"He's doing it again." Inko declared sheepishly as one of Toshinori's eyebrows twitched, "Sorry about that. He can get really… intense when he's in this mode. Doesn't really pay attention to his surroundings." She sighed sadly, "When he was diagnosed, his brain was the only thing he could really work out. He dedicated himself quite heavily to learning everything he could about other people's Quirks as well as their habits."

Mumblemumblemumblemumblemumble

"I saw a little bit of his notebook. It was… quite impressive actually. He even came up with several scenarios to beat a couple villains that I could see working out. He certainly has a brain on him." Toshinori praised the young lad, who was still in his own world. He grinned a little wider and turned into All Might, " **Midoriya-shonen!** " He boomed, making Inko squeak and Izuku to spaz out a little, " **You must feel it! You can't brute force your quirk into submission!** " He cut out the transformation with a puff of smoke, "Feel it out inside you, shonen. Remember what you felt during the incident. Remember what would have happened to your friend had you not intervened. Pull that feeling out and embrace your future! Prove you deserve a place at U.A.!"

With his hero and his mother cheering him on, how could he do anything but?

His eyes and body began glowing green, which mirrored on the salt shaker. And then it shot up like a rocket, straight through the roof, the floor above them, that roof, and into the stratosphere. They all looked up at the hole in the ceiling, one deadpanned, one shaking, and one sweating bullets. "That's going to be… expensive." Inko whimpered. Izuku started sweating actual bullets.

All Might looked down, staring at the boy with his face expressionless, "Shonen… I said pick it up… not send it into low orbit." Despite his face, he was struggling to contain both his glee and his amusement. "My apologies Inko-san. I'll pay for that." He just barely held back a chuckle as Izuku started stammering out apologies and repeatedly bowing to him.

 **-]|[-**

Izuku let out a heavy yawn as he made his way into the dump that was the Dagobah Municipal Park Beach. Oceanic dumping, oceanic currents, and utter assholes had turned what was once a beautiful beach into a literal junkyard. Everything from refrigerators to cars and trucks littered the sand. " **Excellent! You made it on time, shonen!** " It was six AM. The sun was barely rising. It was a little chilly due to the ocean breeze.

And Izuku was pretty exhausted meeting All Might. Especially since he had no idea what this was about. "H-hello! All Might!" He sat on a car that was undercarriage to sand, the wheels missing. "Why did you have me meet you here?" He eyed the man standing tall on a fridge.

" **Two reasons!** " The great hero stuck out two fingers, " **First, your quirk needs training! We still have to experiment and see what you can do! Cleaning this dilapidated beach will serve well and aid you in your quest to reach U.A.! Many pro heroes and hero hopefuls have forgotten that to be a hero means accepting unglamorous jobs too! There are too many people in it for only fame and glory!** " he hopped down and with a single movement of his arm, he pressed the refrigerator down into a tin can, revealing the rising sun behind him, " **Your first step in your heroic career… will be the restoration of this beach!** " Izuku was immediately wide awake and focused on his idol. " **Secondly…** " He felt it was a bit more personal to be in his true form, so he reverted, "Shonen, you impressed me far more than I let on yesterday. To see a kid with no Quirk racing to certain doom to save someone from their doom…" He sat in the sand with a side, "It made me feel like an utter hypocrite. Even after I scolded you and told you to pursue a more realistic dream… you were far more heroic than even me! Meddling where you're not needed… not able… or maybe even not wanted… is the essence of heroism! You bought that child enough time to breathe and gave me the kick in the pants I've needed for the past five years! A hero must always be ready to risk their life to save others! You can not only be a hero… you may one day even surpass me!"

"All Might…" Izuku was all teary eyed and nearly sobbing in joy.

"That is why… I wish to make you my successor!" Izuku stopped breathing, "Shonen… no… Izuku! Will you accept my power and become the next Symbol of Peace?"

"Of course!" Given a mission by All Might himself… how could Izuku say anything but yes? And then the first part of the question penetrated, "E-eh?" He blinked, "T-take your power? What do you mean?"

Toshinori stared at him calmly and despite his currently weak body, he stood proudly, "Exactly as I said… I believe you're worthy of inheriting my power!"

"…Huh?" Izuku looked completely bewildered.

"What's with that face?" Toshinori yelled, spitting a little blood, "This concerns my Quirk! You may have noticed, but every time someone asks me what my Quirk is, I always play it off or deflect by telling a joke. The tabloids heavily suspect its 'super strength' or a boosting Quirk. But it's neither of those things." Izuku's eyes were widening as Toshinori spoke, "My Quirk… is **One For All.** " He held his hand out and a rainbow of colors seemed to envelop his palm. Izuku gasped, "I always deflect the question because All Might must be a natural born hero… but **One For All** … is a Sacred Torch! My master _passed it on_ to me! I was Quirkless…just like you, shonen!" Izuku simply could not breathe. All Might… Quirkless? That… that was impossible, " **One For All** is the ability to store and _transfer_ power. The first person built it up and then passed it on, giving the second one greatly enhanced abilities and strength. They then cultivated it, grew it, and passed it on again. Each time, it grows to make the next wielder stronger than the last! And you, shonen! You are next!" He clenched his fist, "What say you?"

"I…!" Izuku stopped, "Is… is that even… fair?" Toshinori started in surprise, having expected his fanboy to immediately agree, "Or right? If I… If I had still been Quirkless, I would have agreed immediately of course… but now…" He stopped speaking for a moment, "Would that be fair to the others? And… how am I supposed to learn my own Quirk? It's completely different from **One For All**."

Toshinori grinned, "You're not exactly dissuading me, kid. That kind of selfless attitude… you're a perfect successor." He held out a hand and pointed at the boy, "Worry not, shonen! Your own Quirk awakening makes things easier on us. You see… even if you're a perfect successor in terms of your sense of justice… your limp-noodle body leaves much to be desired. **One For All** would rip you apart at the seams if you accepted it now." Izuku had a slightly terrified look on his face, "You would have had to perform hardcore physical training over the next ten months to even have a chance of accepting it in time to enroll at U.A. With your quirk awakening we're not in as much of a hurry on that front. We can dedicate the first few months more towards your own Quirk and then start in on the physical training." He rubbed his head sheepishly, "Truth be told, this is a bit of a relief. You would have had little to no time with **One For All** prior to the entrance exam. You probably would have broken your arms or legs trying to use it because we would have been in too much of a hurry turning you into the proper vessel. We can get you there properly now, rather than rushing like madmen."

He grinned again and turned back into All Might, " **So…what do you say, kid?** "

"I'll do it!" Izuku affirmed, "All Might… I'll be your successor!"

" **EXCELLENT!** " All Might's perpetual grin got even wider, " **Let's begin first by determining… just what the hell your Quirk actually is! Because one of your abilities has nothing to do with the other!** "

"The fire, right?" Izuku asked, "I haven't… really been able to use it since. I tried just a little at home."

" **Dangerous, shonen.** " All Might admonished him, " **Try to save training with that side of your Quirk for outdoors.** " Izuku nodded, looking sheepish, " **Now, can you describe your parent's Quirks for me again?** "

"Well, mom already mentioned it to you, but she can pull things about as big as her purse to her. It takes multiple motions though." Izuku reminded him, "My dad…" He looked a little down, "I've never seen it…" He started to mumble, his volume decreasing, "Or him really… not that I can remember…" He shook himself, though All Might made a note of it. It was definitely something he would work with the boy on. Truth be told, it even gave him a sense of kinship. His parents… he never really knew them either, "But he can breathe fire from what mom told me."

" **Hmmm…** " All Might started to muse, " **Well, it makes sense for the quirks you displayed… or maybe just a singular quirk as a combination. Near as I can tell, yours is a mutated version of your parent's Quirks. Usually Quirks will either be inherited singularly or combined. Rarely, a child will be born with a Quirk completely unrelated to their parents. Yours seems to be a bit of a combination of those two concepts.** He let out a bit of a sigh, " **Despite my intelligence, this isn't really my area of expertise.** " He suddenly had a light bulb pop up over his head, and his grin widened, " **With that in mind, let's start figuring out just what you're capable of, shonen, and worry about specifics later. You can manipulate objects in any direction and project force blasts. That seems to be some pretty strong telekinesis. Or an overpowered version of your mother's Quirk.** **Let's start from there. We know you can lift small items and we know you can lift at least an average junior high student… so let's see what your limits are!** " He pointed off to the side, " **Do you see that, shonen?** "

Izuku turned around and looked over in the direction his teacher was pointing. He scanned the piles until he realized exactly what he was staring at, "IS THAT AN EIGHTEEN-WHEELER CAB?! HOW DID THAT GET THERE?!" Indeed, the old big rig was practically buried about cabin deep in the junk, with its wheels sticking out at about a 30-degree angle.

All Might's boisterous laugh sounded from behind him, " **Yes, this beach is truly a shadow of its former self. Had we been strength training for One For All, that would have either been your graduation test or I would have been forced to move it myself.** " He clapped a hand on Izuku's shoulder, " **With your Telekinesis though… maybe it'll be a cinch! Go for it! You can do it!** "

Izuku took a couple deep breaths before clapping his face. All Might believed in him, so he couldn't fail here! He closed his eyes and dug deep for his power. When he opened them again, his irises were blazing emeralds. The green glow enveloped the rusting behemoth and Izuku tried to lift straight up. There was a groaning noise as some junk shifted and slid off the pile. The sound of straining metal filled the air. Izuku had already started sweating and his form was trembling. With a grimace, he threw his arm out as the green glow around him intensified. His arm was quivering like a leaf in a hurricane and he was letting out pained grunts. The big rig truck slowly lifted up, but Izuku seemed to lose the ability to breathe. Every muscle in his body was trembling and his face had turned bright red. With a gasp, Izuku let go, collapsing to the sand. The truck groaned and flexed dangerously as it settled back into its heap. He'd been able to lift it about two feet which wasn't enough to separate it from the rest of the trash. It was honestly more than All Might had expected. But he'd certainly been unable to hold it in midair or move it at all.

And even with just that, Izuku was panting like he'd been in a triathlon. With cinderblocks attached to his feet. ' _ **What an… amazing Quirk…**_ ' All Might stared in surprise, ' _ **I truly hadn't believed he'd be able to even budge it. He's had his Quirk for a day… Just what kind of potential does it have?**_ ' He slowly grinned even wider than his Symbol of Peace grin, " **That… that was quite a show, shonen.** "

"I couldn't do it…" Izuku moaned, and clutched at his head, "And I have a headache now." He looked down, "Sorry for disappointing you, All Might…" He mumbled sadly…

" **Disappointed?** " All Might's head snapped to him in shock, ' _ **Just what has this poor boy gone through to give him self-esteem issues**_ **this** _ **bad?**_ ' He ground his teeth, " **Shonen, I'm as far from disappointed as I could possibly be. I intended for that to be an impossible task… a goal for you to work towards if your Quirk was the type to grow in strength. There are some with harder limits that can't be overcome. That was supposed to be your motivation and instead you blew me out of the water!** " He smiled at the stunned boy and ruffled his hair, " **I now have to wonder…** **were you unable to lift it fully because you** _ **believed**_ **that it was too heavy … or were you unable to lift it because your Quirk is still in its untrained, fledgling state?** " He let out a rueful chuckle, " **Either answer to that question is… a little scary.** " He gave the boy a kind look, " **Quite frankly, if it weren't for the fact that I already know you don't have a villainous bone in your body, I would be** _ **terrified**_ **of your potential.** "

"…" Izuku was mute, blushing madly at the praise. His breathing had returned to normal though his heart was still hammering. His head was still a bit achy too.

All Might allowed himself to revert, "Truly, it was a sight to see. Now, let's keep at it. Clearly a couple tons of eighteen-wheeler is too much right now. Let's try some lighter things and try to see if you can do multiple objects at a time."

"Yes sir!" Izuku yelled in determination.

 **-]|[-**

Roughly two months had passed since that fateful day. Izuku still hadn't managed to lift the truck cab with the same ease that he could lift something smaller, but he could now hold it above the rest of the trash for couple seconds before the mental strain got to him. Toshinori had forbidden him from moving it off the beach unless he could do it in one motion. In fact, he'd been told that if it touched any part of the beach, another trash heap, or fell, he would personally move it right back.

Izuku hadn't made much progress actually cleaning the beach yet. Mostly he'd been able to move smaller items like chairs and tires with his powers easily. Items like fridges still tired him out after about an hour at best. In addition, All Might had finally started his strength training. He alternated, training physically one day and with his Quirk the next. They still had no success with any fire, making them almost think the incident had been a fluke.

Izuku walked out of his house at about five AM to get to the beach for his training, only to jerk to a stop as he realized Toshinori was already outside and waiting for him. In a car. A very fancy car, "Hop in, shonen!" He grinned, "Today we're taking a trip. It took a while to set up around this time of the year, so I had to wait a bit longer than I wished."

"Where are we going?" Izuku asked as he buckled in, "And for some reason I didn't think All Might would like fancy cars…" he mumbled out loud.

"Bahaha!" Toshinori laughed, "Even if saving people is its own reward, the money does help occasionally. I normally don't drive at all, but as my health declined I've ended up doing it more often." He grinned wickedly, "As for where we're going… _secret_! You can nap if you like. Were the final exams for the semester stressful?"

"Yesss…" Izuku hissed out, recalling how the semester had ended. He stayed silent for a moment, "All Might… was I… right to just ignore the other kids? To confront Kacchan?" He asked timidly, as his mind drifted to the next time he had school after _the incident_ as well as the days following it.

 _Izuku couldn't help but shiver slightly, though he couldn't fathom why. The day had proceeded… fairly routinely actually. He hadn't said a word about his new Quirk, and clearly the news hadn't caught his face or actions since no one had brought it up. As far as anyone knew, he was still just worthless little Deku. Even Kacchan hadn't said anything. Actually, he hadn't so much as acknowledged Izuku's existence. Hadn't even_ glanced _in his direction, at all since the incident._

 _Maybe that was what was giving him this bad feeling. That was far too unlike Kacchan. He was much more… typical of his Quirk. Explosive. Loud. Confrontational. He hadn't even raised his hand to answer a question today. When called – by either one of his hanger-on's or the teacher – he had been even nastier than usual. No mean feat when his default seemed to be set to absolute cockiness._

 _The bell rang and Izuku hurried from the classroom, eager to get back to Dagobah and continue his cleaning and training. All Might would be joining him later in the day of course, though if that was as All Might or Toshinori seemed to be a bit of a wash. The man just couldn't help himself, often using up his time in hero mode on petty crimes. Izuku couldn't exactly fault him for it though. That was why he was_ All Might, _the Number One Hero_.

 _Only his plan hit a little snag. Or maybe the snag hit_ him _. "DEKU!"_

 _He cringed as Katsuki's voice rang up behind him. He eyed his peers, some grinning maliciously, eager to see him get another beatdown. Others just regarded him with pity in their eyes and turned away. He didn't even have time to say a word, as when he turned around Kacchan had already grabbed him by the lapels and slammed him into a locker. He let out a surprised grunt, though he wasn't yet in pain._

" _You little bastard…" Kacchan hissed, a dark look in his eyes, "What the fuck was that last Friday, Deku?"_

" _K-k-k-k-k-Kacchan!" Izuku stammered, sweating profusely, "I-I-I don't kno-"_

" _CUT THE SHIT, BASTARD!" He roared in his face, spraying him with spit. At this point, the rest of the onlookers had realized this wasn't_ just _standard Katsuki. No, something had happened. Something which utterly infuriated the ash-blonde. "Has it been fun huh, you little shit? Making a fucking FOOL out of me?!"_

" _Kacchan, what are you talking about!" Izuku yelled back, utterly confused. Just what was the boy getting at?_

" _YOU KNOW DAMN WELL!" Katsuki howled, "Quirks don't develop past four you bastard! You've been hiding it for years, haven't you?!" Everyone in the hall gasped or started murmuring, "Has it been fun, you fucker? Has it been fun making me the butt of your joke for years?!"_

" _J-j-j" The verdette seemed stuck on that one letter, first confusion, then astonishment, and finally actual anger playing on his face, "Just what kind of TROLL LOGIC ARE YOU OPERATING ON, KACCHAN?" He yelled back at his former friend. He shoved the boy back and Katsuki stumbled, a look of utter shock on his face at Izuku growing a spine. The murmurs around increased in volume, "I thought you'd be happy for me, but you're just like always!" Izuku's notorious crybaby nature was threatening to rear its ugly head, "You think I_ liked _getting bullied by you!" All Might's ideals, his belief in his student, and all of the past torment was coming to a head, "By all of you?! Having my dreams stomped on and crushed? That I was just pretending and having a good laugh out of sight behind your back?!" Anger was starting to literally waft off the boy. The rest of the students gasped as his hair started to wave and his signature green glow was starting to show._

" _DEKU!" Katsuki bellowed, rearing an arm back as explosions ignited it, "How else do you explain it huh?! Quirks don't just magically appear, you bastard!" Izuku froze as he heard Katsuki's voice, even though his next words weren't spoken at all, '_ _You were a pebble! Just a pebble in my path! A nobody! I'm the fucking greatest! I'm better than everyone else!_ _'_

' _Pebble?' Izuku thought to himself, ignoring his Quirk showing another facet to it for the moment, 'Is that really all you saw me as?' His sadness grew as he came to terms with the fact that his former friend really_ had _changed completely for the worse. Nothing remained about the cheerful if somewhat mean boy Izuku had befriended so long ago. And apparently all the praise heaped on him since early childhood had made him develop a full-blown superiority complex on top of all his other issues! 'You need a wakeup call, Kacchan… and I'm not afraid of you anymore! I'll save you, even if it's you I need to save you from!' He manned up and yelled back, "Well mine did!" He took a step forward, "And I'm going to use it to get into U.A. same as you! I'm going to become the greatest hero in the world!"_

" _Deku… STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME!" Katsuki had no inside-voice whatsoever._

" _I'M NOT LOOKING DOWN ON ANYONE!" Izuku yelled back, "I'M NOT THE ONE WHO THINKS HE'S THE MAIN CHARACTER!"_

" _DEKU!"_

" _KACCHAN!"_

 _Katsuki charged forward, his arm igniting in mini explosions building up in a crescendo. Izuku's green glow engulfed him, his eyes turning into pools of shimmering emerald and his hair whipping about. Katsuki was picked up and thrown back into the lockers. He hit the metal and crushed it, a shockwave crumpling other lockers beside his impact zone. Even the tiles on the floor were cracked and broken. Katsuki also lost control of his Quirk for a moment in his astonishment, and a massive explosion turned yet more lockers and even the wall behind him into rubble._

" _WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Their homeroom teacher was hurrying forward and pushing the other astonished kids aside. He skid to a halt and gaped at Izuku, who dropped his Quirk and reverted to stammering old Izuku, sweating up a storm. The teacher gaped at him in shock, "Was that a Quirk?! At your age?!"_

" _Err…" Izuku poked his fingers together, "Maybe?" He squeaked, the adrenaline leaving him cold._

" _That's amazing!" The teacher gasped, before shaking himself and resuming his forced air of authority as he saw the damage, "Bakugo! Midoriya! Principal's office! NOW!"_

 _Izuku hurried after the man as Katsuki stood, somewhat scuffed up but not really harmed. He was… a very durable young man. Even that hadn't really hurt him, though any other teen there would have had a couple broken bones at least. His face was expressionless as he followed them, though if anyone else had been asked they would have claimed his face looked thunderous. Deku hadn't_ _ **just**_ _stood up to him… Hadn't finally grown a pair and fought back…_

 _He'd drawn first blood._

The days following that – well, when they both returned from their week-long suspension at any rate – had been… confusing. Strange. _Irritating_.

Kacchan hadn't said a word since then – quite the opposite, the boy had been ignoring him entirely except for nasty glares. The other kids though… they hadn't exactly been sweet and innocent either. The ones who had bullied him their entire lives… had immediately started trying to cozy up to him. Acting like they were friends. Praising his quirk… never him. Acting like… all the bullying had never happened. Those who had just stood aside and let him get bullied were no better.

Really, hadn't he always wanted friends of his own? Hadn't he dreamed of a day where he would have a Quirk and would finally be accepted?

And yet when he finally had it… he first got claustrophobic and then he got _angry_. How fake could they all possibly be? Not ONE of them had ever even _apologized_ for all the snide remarks and insults. If he were Kacchan he would most definitely have told them all to fuck right off and told them exactly where they could shove their 'friendship.'

But he wasn't Kacchan. He was Izuku. And he'd not accepted a single invite to hang out. Hadn't joined any groups… He kept them at arm's length at best. Shrugged off any friendly gestures. Spoke politely at some points, stuttered like normal at others…

Nothing had really changed, and this time it was because of him. And of course, his rejection had offended the little bastards, and it was right back to sneers and loneliness.

' _Years of mistreatment doesn't just go away, shonen._ ' Toshinori thought to himself as they drove, "Can I say you were right? No I can't. No one can say that except for you, Izuku. What I can say is what those kids did to you wasn't right. And personally, I'm glad you didn't buy into their 'friendship.' People can be incredibly fake and the fact that not one of them apologized to you exemplifies that." He put a hand on Izuku's head and ruffled his hair, "UA will be a new beginning for you, shonen. I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends once you make it in. Ones who like you for you and aren't just trying to be seen next to the 'next big Quirk.' You don't need any of those kids by your side."

Izuku smiled and his eyes got a little watery, "Thanks… Toshi."

Toshinori smirked, "Any time, shonen."

 **-]|[-**

Izuku had a _hilarious_ look on his face as he looked on at the pearly gates in front of him, "U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U"

"Are you a young man or a bad record?" Toshinori teased with a grin.

"U.A.! YOU BROUGHT ME TO UA?! DID WE DIE?! AM I IN HEAVEN?!" Izuku was practically starting to hyperventilate.

"Cut it out." Toshinori laughed, "You'll be seeing those gates plenty of times in eight months." He gave Izuku a badge, "Stick that in your pocket. You'll need it for the security system to let you in."

"Why are we here?" Izuku asked as he did as requested.

"We're meeting two people… far more capable than me in terms of Quirk Diagnosis. If they can't figure out your Quirk, no one can." They made their way through the campus and stopped at a fairly normal looking gymnasium building. "This… is Gym Gamma… otherwise known as the **Training Kitchen Land.** " They opened the doors and went in, "And this…"

"Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? All you need to know is that I'm… the principal!" A tiny creature standing on two legs and wearing fancy dress clothes – and very un-matching shoes that looked just like Izuku's own sneakers – greeted them. He had a mouse-like body, dog-like paws, and a bear-like face with a scar over his right eye.

"Your coat looks so luxurious today, principal!" Toshinori complimented him.

"The secret is keratin! Humans can't get color like this!" The animal responded cheekily.

"Nice to meet you sir!" Izuku bowed to the animal, trying to keep from freaking out. He was meeting the PRINCIPAL?

"And this is Recovery Girl!" Toshinori pointed out to short old woman with her gray hair in a bun. She had a cane shaped like a syringe in her hand. Her name was Chiyo Shuzenji and she was practically what kept UA running. They could never do the things they did without her healing quirk.

"How are you doing today, Midoriya-chan?" She held a hand out, "Here, some haribo candies."

"Th-thank you, Recovery Girl." Izuku responded.

"Has All Might told you why you're here today, Midoriya?" Nezu asked him.

"Just a little." Izuku admitted shyly, "We're here to test out my Quirk, right?"

"That's right." Nezu confirmed, "Hopefully by the end of the day you'll even have a name for it." The short little creature grinned cheerily at him. "Now, please describe everything you've been able to do with your Quirk as of now, as well as your parent's Quirks."

"Well…" Izuku hummed, "My main ability seems to be telekinesis. The heaviest thing All Might has had me try lifting was the cab of an eighteen-wheeler. I can get it up for a couple seconds at best. So far, I seem to be able to only lift a couple objects at the same time, regardless of weight. If I really strain myself, my head starts to hurt and I feel really tired afterwards. I can also do force blasts like All Might's punches… if he used maybe a finger." Izuku told them, and Toshinori snorted at his description, "The day I first used it, I actually had another completely different ability trigger. I got injured by a villain. I think he speared me right through the shoulder. My wound erupted into this blue fire that healed and completely purged the wound of that nasty stuff. I haven't been able to do anything like it since." He also spent about a minute covering his parent's Quirks. And finally, he remembered back to that day at school again, "Oh, I actually just remembered something! I think I was also able to read someone's mind!"

Toshinori coughed out some blood, "Pfff You never said a thing about that to me, shonen!"

Izuku poked his fingers together shyly, "I… kinda forgot… It was the day that _thing_ with Kacchan happened."

"Ahh…" that stopped Toshinori short, "I suppose you did have plenty of other things on your mind that day." He replied softly.

"Hmmm… very fascinating. That's quite a Quirk you've got." Nezu smiled at him cheerily, "How many years have you been using it? A couple of years?"

Izuku started and turned to Toshinori, "You…you didn't tell them?" He asked in disbelief.

Toshinori grinned cheekily back at him, "Don't ruin my fun, shonen."

"Until two months ago… I thought I was Quirkless." He admitted sheepishly, and watched as both of the elders he was meeting with blanched. He hurried to explain, "N-n-no matter how much I wished for it to appear, it never did. I… I had all but given up on that day." He poked his fingers together, head turned downward. "I went to the doctors when I was four… they said I should just give up. That it would never happen."

"Two months?" Nezu breathed, eyes wide in shock, "Just two months?"

Recovery Girl had an entirely different reaction. Her eyes narrowed, "They diagnosed you as Quirkless? So the gene tests came back negative? The MRI scans did as well?"

Izuku looked at her for a few seconds, before tilting his head to the side, "Huh?" Off to the side, Toshinori was looking equally confused.

"Your gene tests." Recovery Girl replied impatiently, "I'd like to see them at some point."

"…" Izuku eyed her in confusion, "…What gene tests?" He asked a little helplessly. The two of them snapped shocked gazes to him, "They just showed us the x-ray of my toe."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" The explosion for the tiny old lady almost blew them all backwards, "The x-ray? _That_ was what they used to crush a young child's dreams? I'll have their practices! I'll have their medical licenses!" The kindly old lady was quite literally stewing in complete and utter rage. Izuku was almost hiding behind Toshinori. Slowly, she cooled herself down, "Izuku-chan, that exam is merely supposed to be the first thing we look for. It IS generally accepted as a tell of Quirklessness, but it is NOT the end of the road. About three percent of the population with the extra joint still have a Quirk. They're just very late bloomers because their Quirks are normally harder to control. Six, seven, and eight is pushing it. Conversely, about one percent of the population without the joint never develop a Quirk. That is an ancient examination! Nowadays we test directly for the Quirk Factor!"

Izuku slowly lost feeling in his legs and slid to the floor. All this time… all this time, he'd been mistreated, ridiculed, and all but spat on by his peers… on _laziness_? On medical malpractice? He clenched a fist, feeling frustration well up inside of him.

"I'm so sorry, kid." Toshinori said sadly, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, "I never knew about this either. Back in my day the x-ray was all we had."

"Who was your doctor? Where does he work?" Chiyo asked him gently.

Izuku let out a sigh, "He's dead…" If he closed his eyes he could still see his and Kacchan's old 'friend's' red wings holding him aloft in the air, "He and his grandson went missing years ago." That brought to mood down to somber, before the principal intervened.

Nezu coughed, "I'm sure you're frustrated Midoriya, but we truly don't have much time here today. We have plenty to do to prepare for the next semester here as well as get the summer events in order. I feel for you as well, but we need to move a little quicker." He clapped his hands as Izuku gave him a determined nod. He was sure that this wouldn't be forgotten any time soon, but for now the boy would be able to ignore it. "Now, first thing is first… we must figure out how to use your second ability. You say the only time you were able to use it was when you were injured, correct?" He got a sharp nod from the boy, and released a sigh in response, "Then as distasteful as it is, injured you must be. Unless you can get a feel for the ability, you'll never be able to call it up again. After all, much of learning your Quirk is feeling it out."

Recovery Girl still had a heavy scowl on her face, which only deepened at the principal's words, "Unfortunate, but accurate. I will be here to aid you if you can't get the ability to trigger again." Izuku swallowed in a fair bit of apprehension, but nodded anyway. Recovery Girl took out a scalpel from her doctor's coat, "Finger please."

Izuku held out a shaky hand, and the old woman grumbled for a moment about oaths before making a small incision. Izuku winced but kept from crying out as a little blood started leaking through. Yet as the seconds went by, it was clear it wasn't activating. "I…" Izuku winced, "Don't think that worked."

"Quirks aren't normally one-time things." Nezu said and looked a little morose, "If that didn't work, then perhaps there is a threshold of pain or injury itself needed to activate unconsciously."

"We are _not_ going to put a young child through pain like that!" Recovery Girl snapped, "Just this is bad enough!"

Izuku stared at his finger. The small cut was already clotting, and he clenched his fist. "All Might." He turned to stare at his mentor in determination as he rolled up his sleeve and held out his arm, "Hit me."

"Midoriya-shonen…" Toshinori's protest died on his lips as he stared at Izuku's determined gaze.

"We can figure this out another way!" Recovery Girl's protests went unheeded.

"We tried small." Izuku said, a minor tremor in his tone betraying his fear, "We're not going to get anywhere without some risk, right?"

Toshinori stared at him sadly, "You… you're far too brave Midoriya-shonen. Maybe even for your own good." He bulked up, turning into his hero form. He held a finger over his student's arm and pulled it back with his other hand. He allowed the finger to slip, and Izuku had to bite back a scream as even that tiny action ruptured tiny blood vessels in his arm and put a hairline fracture in his Ulna.

A bruise formed immediately as Izuku slowly went to his knees, cradling his inured arm. Chiyo bit her lip and forced herself to stay still, fighting her very nature which wanted only to help the child. And then Izuku's arm was enveloped in flame. They all recoiled, mentally preparing to be hit by the heat, only to be surprised when nothing happened. Izuku was watching the flame with shiny eyes, a peaceful smile on his face. "It… it's cool."

All Might slowly put a hand over it, " **It is. I don't feel any heat at all.** " The giant of a man said in surprise.

"Fascinating!" Nezu exclaimed, "How is your arm, Midoriya-san?"

"Healed!" Izuku chirped with a grin, "It only took a second or two for the pain to go away, but I wanted to get a feel for it."

"Excellent. Shut it off and try to bring it back." Nezu told him and they stepped away from the boy. Even if the fire hadn't _felt_ hot, they were sure if that was actually the case.

Izuku walked to the center of Gym Gamma and closed his eyes. His powers… they _felt_ different now that he was aware of them. His telekinetic energy felt calm, **powerful** , and steady. Unwavering. His fire was… different. It was energetic. It made him feel excited. And happy. Like the sun was shining on him. He embraced that feeling and his right arm was once again engulfed in bright blue flames. He grinned as he stared into its depths, "I did it!"

" **Excellent work, shonen!** " All Might called at him as they started walking forward again.

"Wait!" Izuku held up a hand to stop them, "I want to try something!" He dispersed the flame and this time tried to reach for both powers at once. This time the fire that arose was decidedly _not_ cool and tingly. No, this was a primal, _burning_ fire looking to consume all in its path. He squeaked in fear as the glowing emerald flames enveloped him in a firestorm. They quickly grew out of control and started to spread. It was only a second later that Izuku started to _scream_.

"Fire Emergency!" Nezu roared, all traces of his jovial nature gone at the sound of a child and future student howling in agony. The fire suppression systems activated, dumping a deluge of water from the ceiling. They all had to shield themselves from the heat, and almost started to panic as the water literally evaporated before it could do anything.

All Might had enough listening to his student cry. " **Austin Smash!** " He bellowed and thrust his palm forward. The extreme wind did what the water had not. The fire dispersed, leaving a wobbly, buck-ass-nude Midoriya Izuku in the middle of the gym. His blue flames covered him and were healing some pretty savage looking burns. They had just discovered that he was decidedly _not_ fireproof even to his own fire. It was only his healing ability – which did not in fact turn off his sense of pain and in fact _made things worse_ by regenerating his nerves only for them to get seared again – that kept him alive.

Izuku shakily turned to them, "Let's… shelve that for now, shall we?" He said in a squeaky voice, before keeling over and crashing to the floor.

"…" They all stared at the unconscious boy, "What in the world _is_ that Quirk?"

 **-]|[-**

It took Izuku another four hours to wake up again, and by then they didn't have long left at UA. "I'm sorry!" Izuku apologized for the nth time. He was now dressed in a UA gym uniform and was practically fangirling over the fact that he would – by necessity if nothing else – be keeping it. He would treasure it forever.

"It's quite alright young man." Nezu sighed, lamenting the lost day, "This just means you'll have to do a bit less experimenting until you come here as a student." He gave him an icy glare, "You will NOT be experimenting with that green fire outside of here, understand? It's far too dangerous without direct supervision and adequate training facilities. You'll probably not be able to use it at all for the next eight months."

"Yes sir!" Izuku responded quickly. Truth be told, that fire had terrified him. He'd felt like he'd been cooking alive in there. Because he was. What _nasty_ fire. He wasn't in any hurry to use it again.

"Good. Now, unfortunately we're out of time today, but you'll still have Toshinori to train you as well as your own healing abilities. I give you two permissions to experiment with your other abilities in your normal training grounds." Nezu said, and finally smiled cheerily again, "To be honest, I'm rather beside myself with eagerness to see what you'll make of yourself, Midoriya-san. Your Quirk is amazing, and if my suspicions are right, you may only be scratching the surface! Telekinesis and Pyrokinesis and – if you can figure out how to do it again – Telepathy are all subsets of Psychic powers, so perhaps you should pick up a couple of those really old comics and manga from the turn of the millennium and the last millennium. You may find some amazing ideas in them that you're able to replicate."

Izuku almost started to drool over the idea of finding himself some centuries-old stories to read. "I will! Thank you for the advice, principal!"

Nezu nodded, "You're a good kid Midoriya-san. I can see what Toshinori saw in you. You have great potential!" He turned to the man in question as Izuku went scarlet, "You intend to pass **One For All** to him, don't you?"

"I do!" Toshinori grinned, "He's the perfect candidate! When I first offered it to him, he didn't even hesitate to think of others first. He wondered if it would be _fair_ to others if he took it now that he had his Quirk. That kind of selfless nature, his bravery, and his sense of justice are hard to come by. Even before he had his quirk he didn't even hesitate to try to save someone from a villain."

"I agree." Nezu said, "And that is why – even though I feel he really has the potential to succeed you as the Symbol of Peace – it pains me to say that he can NOT become the next holder of **One For All**."

The mood in the room immediately dropped like a stone, and both Izuku and Toshinori stared agog at him. "B-but why?" Izuku felt like a chunk of lead had landed in his stomach. He felt cold.

Nezu let out a hard sigh and crossed his paws, "Let us perform a scenario analysis on what would happen if Izuku were to accept **One For All.** " He spoke with deadly seriousness, "Scenario one: Izuku accepts the Quirk and now he has two of them. With the potential he's shown us with only two months of training, they may even end up being equally powerful. He now has to divide all his time in training two Quirks that have nothing to do with one another. **One For All** is not a Quirk you just _have_. He will break himself without dedicating his body to training it. He would have to leave his original Quirk by the wayside, and I can see in his face that he clearly is not interested in that."

Izuku looked down, "No… I'm not. I… I finally have a Quirk. Something to make me unique. Something that is all me…"

"Exactly." Nezu eyed Toshinori as the man grew increasingly disappointed, "Izuku would become a jack of all trades, master of none. He would be hurting his own potential by stretching himself too thin." His voice was grave and he looked solemn, "And that is the _better_ scenario. The worst-case scenario is that **One For All** _merges_ with his original Quirk. All of the stockpiled power stored in your Quirk, now powering _his_."

"He would _far_ surpass me." Toshinori breathed in awe and then began to protest, "He could be the greatest symbol this world has ever seen! Greater than me!"

"Yes… if he could _control it_." Nezu admonished the Greatest Hero, "He would be breaking things with even the slightest touch of his Quirk. Crushing full trucks into soda cans. Picking people up to rescue them and putting them on the moon! How could he possibly learn control when even the lightest touch could be enough to send something he struggles with now straight into orbit? He could never use his Quirk again. He'd be back where he started! For all intents and purposes… Quirkless." All Might was looking even more deflated than usual.

Chiyo spoke up, sounding as solemn as Nezu, "And the doomsday scenario… The Quirk immediately overwhelms him the first time he uses it and he rips himself apart, just as an untrained **One For All** user would."

"No." Toshinori sagged, "You're both right. It would be beyond foolishness for me to ignore your insight. You're far more intelligent than me, principal."

"I'm sorry Toshinori." Nezu said mournfully, "I know how extremely happy you were to have found your successor."

Izuku had stayed silent as the spoke, and he now stood up and for once, it was him putting his hand on All Might's shoulder, "I'm sorry All Might." He smiled weakly, "Looks like I messed things up already."

Toshinori bulked up, " **This changes nothing, shonen. I promised to train you as my successor until the entrance exam and train you I shall. You're still my student and my successor, even if I can't give you One For All!** " He stood and put on a brave face. " **We'll make you the greatest hero in the world yet, Midoriya-shonen!** " He started laughing a little boisterously, " **I guess this does mean we can cut the physical training out of our schedule though.** "

"And here's my promise to you, All Might." Izuku held out a fist to his mentor, "I'll search high and low if I have to! We'll find your successor to **One For All**!" He then surprised All Might with his next statement, "And we should still keep it in. A hero shouldn't be a one-trick-pony, right?"

All Might smiled, once more seeing the potential of his successor. Even if things weren't going to go the way he wished, he could rest easy knowing someone like Izuku Midoriya was part of the next generation. He bumped his fist against his student's, sealing the promise. " **I don't think your Quirk counts as just one trick, but it is up to you.** "

Finally, Chiyo and Nezu smiled again, and she spoke up, "On a much happier note, I think I may have thought up a name for your Quirk, Midoriya-chan."

"Really?" Izuku grinned happily, blushing more than a little, "What is it?"

She looked up at him and smiled, "' _Hope rises like a phoenix from the ashes of shattered dreams._ '" It was an old quote, and she didn't quite remember where she had read it. While Izuku had been unconscious, she'd heard from All Might about Izuku's life prior to that fateful day. The words most certainly applied. Had his quirk not awakened or All Might not been around to offer up **One For All** , she wasn't sure where this poor boy would be now, "Your life before your Quirk awakened and your life from now on will be completely different. With the abilities you've displayed, your new quirk shall be named…" She stopped, and literally had Izuku at the edge of his seat. She waited just a moment more, and said just two words,

" **Phoenix Force.** "

 **-]|[-**

 **So, here it is. Now first things first…**

 **This is NOT** _ **actually**_ **the Phoenix Force from Marvel. THAT is a cosmic sized bag of worms I have NO intention of opening, lmao. It is however, partially based ON the Phoenix Force. I took influences from Marvel, One Punch Man, and Mob Psycho 100, and a tiny smidgeon from One Piece creating his power and character design. Since I took a couple of the really OP abilities away and drastically toned it down (Since, you know, I don't think MHA needs the ability to blow PLANETS AWAY AND FUCKING EAT STARS), I kinda added different ones back on. The Blue Flame is Marco The Phoenix's Flames of Regeneration from One Piece. It can't burn anything and only heals. The healing is also drastically weaker if used on someone else. He'll have some straight weaknesses too, though those will be revealed later.**

 **With that out of the way, I hope you all enjoyed! It was pretty fun to write except for All Might's goddamn hero name. Immediate fucking grammar issues every time I had to use it.**

 **Additionally, we've already got a pretty big divergence. Izuku WILL NOT acquire One For All. And that means someone else has to get it, and I have a few candidates that already feel pretty fun in my own head. Mirio is obviously the obvious choice if you're caught up with the manga, which is why I'm tempted NOT to go with him. I haven't made my choice yet, but I've narrowed it down and I'm going to have some FUN if I go with the one I'm leaning towards.**

 **This was actually one of… a** _ **couple**_ **MHA ideas I had. This was the one I chose to write, but I'll list down the other ideas here as well and see if they get any interest.**

 **Idea One actually sprung up from Stain, Aizawa, and** _ **kinda**_ **One For All. Stain and Aizawa have pretty incredible physical capabilities that have nothing to do with their Quirks, and even if One For All is a stockpiling Quirk, if it wasn't already possible to exceed human limits then there is literally no way that JUST eight Peak Human's strength stockpiled into Toshinori would allow him to fucking** _ **change the weather with a punch.**_ **Even** _ **without**_ **strength enhancing Quirks, breaking human limits kinda HAS to be possible in this universe, if for no other reason than Aizawa and Stain's fighting prowess. With that in mind, Izuku is determined to be a hero and fuck everyone who doesn't believe in him. He enters the UA Sports Festival from General Ed (since he has no Quirk he wasn't allowed to even try the heroics exam) and completely** _ **slays**_ **it. His childhood training basically came from manga and comics since in this world, martial arts is kinda out of style what with quirks. Yeah, you know where I'm going with this. Rokushiki (among others perhaps) and Haki. At this point, you can either continue and make Izuku the first Quirkless hero, moving him into 1A from General Ed, or you can have All Might salivating over in the stands and immediately offer up One For All.**

 **Idea Two is a bit more…** _ **me**_ **. This one would just be me having way too much fun for my own good. Basically, it follows the principle of Convergent Evolution. Izuku develops a slightly altered All For One. Basically, he can copy or steal a Quirk. The appearance of him using it is little strands of what looks like DNA helices come out of him, much like the blade-ish things All for One used in canon. While he'll eventually learn that he can steal Quirks outright to keep them away from villains, at first he'll only know he's able to copy them. When he copies a quirk, he's either able to use it himself or put it back into the original person and basically strengthen their quirk, though it'll only work once like that or else they start going into Nomu-like mental damage. The warning sign for that will be that the first time he does it, the person will experience headaches and nausea for a few days. So, they decide it's too dangerous to try a second time. And if he transfers it back, then he can't copy that person's quirk again.**

 **The only Quirk I know for sure I would have him copying/stealing is Kurogiri's at the moment, though I have others I'm considering.**

 **Idea Three was… more of a cracky H-fic than anything. Not fleshed out in the slightest. "** **I mean his mom can bring stuff close to her and his dad can breathe fire, so I guess Deku's secret quirk is that he draws in hot girls."**

 **Concept Four was less of a story idea and more of a power idea; basically, he'd be able to manipulate spirit power ala Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach.**


	2. A New Beginning

**Hey everyone! I was pretty happy to see how well-received this story was. This was one of the few times I was actually kind of worried I had gone a little bit too far with the powers.**

 **Now, it bears addressing since I imagine others may end up thinking the same. One of you mentioned that One For All doesn't affect other Quirks. Whether it does or not, we really don't know. Toshinori and Izuku were both Quirkless (though to be honest, I kind of have my doubts about Toshinori. If his muscle form is linked to One For All then why can he still use it? Not for long granted, but he shouldn't be able to use it at all.) and we don't know anything about the Quirk Nana had. What we do know is it mutated pretty rapidly the second All For One's brother acquired the Stockpiling Quirk into One For All. Does this mean that it is a Quirk with a high possible mutation rate? Probably not. But I can take it like that if I wish, since it is a possibility. And in story, the possibility was really too great a risk.**

 **But more importantly, there were more than just in-story reasons for my refusal to give Izuku One For All. See, giving it to him is pointless. There are so many fics I've read which give him some potentially really cool abilities, and then just give him One For All anyway. If I DON'T give him One For All, I can highlight his own power rather than have it be just another booster for One For All. Yeah, I could have done it. His Phoenix Regeneration would have left him basically untouchable and able to go 100% right from the beginning. Who cares if he blows an arm off the first time he uses it? Flames of Regeneration and a couple seconds and he's good to go again. It would have been boring and overpowered.**

 **And for another thing; a small number of you disliked the idea because you felt it would take away from Izuku and Toshinori's relationship. Guys… Toshinori chose Izuku to be his successor because he's IZUKU. He chose the powerless, Quirkless kid to do so, because Izuku embodies what he represents. He embodies what it means to be a Hero. Another person receiving One For All** _ **isn't going to change that**_ **.**

 **Now, does everyone like** _ **The Emerald Phoenix**_ **as a title? I said last chapter that it was the working title, but it has kind of grown on me. Haha**

 **Thanks for all the reviews everyone! Hope you enjoy.**

 **Actually, before that, I probably should put a warning up here.**

 **ATTENTION ANIME-ONLY (and general fans who are coming from my other stories) FANS: I'M ABOUT TO FUCK SHIT UP. IF YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE MANGA, YOU'RE IN DANGER. I REPEAT: YOU ARE IN DANGER.**

 **-]|[-**

 **Chapter II: A New Beginning**

 **-]|[-**

A large fridge was falling from the sky, enveloped in a green glow. Below it, All Might casually sidestepped and it crashed onto the beach, throwing up a deluge of sand, " **Your throws are gaining power, shonen!** " His voice boomed as he stared up at his successor. Izuku was floating in midair, his body glowing his signature emerald. His light shirt was barely hanging onto his frame, in tatters. That had been the result of just the _air pressure_ from one of his mentor's punches. Not even one of his Smashes either, just a regular punch. The One For All wielder's strength truly was no joke.

True to his word, Izuku had not focused entirely on his Quirk during their training. His Flames of Regeneration had proved a godsend, enabling him to drastically cut down on his physical recovery time. Much of his baby fat had already been burned away and he was starting to show signs of some muscle definition. He was a far cry from where All Might would have wanted if they were still planning on giving him One For All, but no longer was he the same scrawny kid that always got beat on endlessly. He was still dripping in sweat from his spar with his mentor, and still breathing quite hard. It made him quite thankful that the cold of Fall hadn't started coming in yet. Yet still, he began to smile, "Thanks All Might!" He called back, before the glow around him intensified and his form blurred.

All Might threw up an arm and blocked Izuku's roundhouse kick. His feet didn't even budge despite the massive blowback kicking up a sandy dervish behind him. He grabbed Izuku's leg and with nary a grunt of effort, chucked the boy across the lot and towards one of the piles of garbage.

Izuku's body flashed before it vanished entirely, and All Might ducked as his student's leg passed where his head had been. A second teleportation found Izuku below him, throwing up a vicious uppercut. Yet All Might moved out of the way with such speed that he ended up behind the green-haired boy as a column of force ripped through the air where his head had been moments ago. He threw his fist out and split the glowing husk of a car that had been hurtling towards him in half. His punch put a hole into one of the scrap piles which started collapsing in on itself. And before his student could react, he whirled around and grabbed him by the back of the neck. With the sound of breaking glass, Izuku's psychic barrier shattered as All Might slammed him into the ground. The boy didn't move except to breathe, blowing small little bits of sand away from his face as he groaned.

" **Marvelous!** " All Might beamed at his exhausted pupil, " **Simply marvelous, Midoriya-shonen! You've already come so far these past four months!** " He helped Izuku up and grinned at him, " **Your Quirk may be amazing, but your work ethic and determination has allowed you to turn it into something truly spectacular!** " He gave his green-haired student a thumbs-up, " **You keep this up and you'll be ready to succeed me in no time!** "

Izuku grinned tiredly, but before he could say anything more, something happened which shocked the two of them to their cores. "THAT WAS AMAZING!" A new voice yelled and nearly gave the two of them heart attacks, "WHAT A HOT-BLOODED BATTLE!"

Izuku froze and a shiver ran down his spine as he whipped around, ' _I thought no one came around here?!_ '

All Might turned to the newcomer in panic, ' **HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT! NOT NOW!** '

The person rushing up to them looked young like Izuku, though they couldn't be more different. He had dark hair with a buzz-cut and rather beady eyes that were incredibly sharp. He was very tall for what was probably his young age – being more than a head taller than Izuku – and he had a much heavier build. He clearly had seen the inside of a gym quite often. He was wearing board shorts and a tank top. Completing his look was an absolutely gigantic smile reminiscent of All Might himself.

All Might who was currently panicking as his fear came to pass. BAMF! A weird sound accompanied his explosion into his trademarked steam cloud, and Toshinori was revealed. The new guy froze, his smile still wide on his face though his eyes were popping out, before tipping over still in his running position and crashing face-first into the sand. "Wh-wh-wha!" he raised himself quickly and stared at Toshinori, "All Might!" He cried out, "What happened?!"

Toshinori stared at him deadpanned for a moment, before whipping around towards Izuku, "Five years! Five years I went and not a single soul ever found out! I meet you and there are three in four months!" He shook his fist at his sweating student. "Are you a magnet attracting people to my secret? Do you have another Quirk we don't know about?!" Blood was spewing from his mouth as he pointed at his student.

Izuku stammered apologies at his master, before his mind kicked into overdrive. Mumble mumble mumble… "…had such a Quirk…" Mumble mumble mumble… "…secret attraction Quirk would be an incredible boon in interrogations…" Mumble mumble mumble…

The newcomer sweatdropped, staring at the mumbling teen in confused amusement. Finally, Toshinori got fed up with Izuku in his Analysis Mode and clapped him on the chin and head simultaneously, "It was a joke you Prince of Nonsense!"

Izuku rubbed his chin sheepishly, "S-sorry!"

Toshinori shook his head in fond exasperation, before pointing at the newcomer, "You! **What is your name, shonen?** "

The boy jumped to his feet as Toshinori put on his 'commanding' voice and stood stiff as a board, as if Toshinori were a military general, "Inasa Yoarashi! Pleased to meet you both!" His huge grin came back as he bowed so low he was bent at a ninety-degree angle.

"Same to you, Yoarashi-shonen. My own name is Toshinori Yagi and my student here is Izuku Midoriya." Toshinori replied, "Now…" He sighed and sat on a piece of the car he had ripped apart, "You know how some people hold in their gut and puff out their chest when at the pool?" Inasa nodded in confusion, "Yeah, it's kind of like that. I got badly injured around five years ago. This is my real form nowadays. Don't go writing about this on the internet, got it?"

"That's…" Inasa shook his face devoid of his grin, before it came back with a vengeance, "INCREDIBLE! SO INCREDIBLY HOT-BLOODED!" His fist shook in front of him, "You're amazing, All Might! Even gravely injured, you still puff out your chest and protect us all! Truly an inspiration to all heroes! I AM HONORED TO BE A HOLDER OF YOUR SECRET!" This time, he bowed so low that his face crashed into a small mini-fridge lying in the sand and dented it.

Izuku goggled and Toshinori wasn't much better. "Y-you know, that would be a bit more convincing if you weren't _shouting at the top of your lungs!_ " Izuku had a comical look on his face as he snarked at the taller boy.

Inasa lifted himself up with an even more comical expression, complete with blood pouring down his face, "S-sorry!" He rubbed the back of his head a little sheepishly, "I always have that problem. I just get way too overly excited sometimes. I am serious, though. I would never break your trust, All Might. I respect you far too much!" He gave him a much more subdued bow this time.

"It's quite all right. I don't think I have any right to reprimand someone for being too loud." Toshinori quirked a grin, and they all shared a small snicker at the thought. "We'll trust you, Yoarashi-shonen. Don't disappoint us."

"Awesome!" Inasa straightened out and grinned over towards Izuku, "Anyway, your Quirk is amazing, my man! So hot blooded!" He grinned and started levitating, an eddy of air currents supporting him, "I've never met anyone else able to fly like me! Usually they have wings or something!"

Izuku and Toshinori both snapped their eyes to the sand, which was waving about as if carried by a current. Izuku said what was on both of their minds, "Wind?"

"That's right! Inasa Yoarashi! Quirk: **Whirlwind**!" he stuck a hand out for Izuku to shake, "Let's be friends, my man!"

Izuku stiffened, "F-friends?"

Toshinori grinned and looked away, ' _That's the way, shonen! Perhaps this is your new beginning._ '

Izuku smiled shakily, "S-sure! F-friends then!" He clapped his hand into Inasa's and almost had to wince. The guy had a strong grip.

Inasa's grin was so blinding Izuku could swear the sun was pinging on his teeth, "Awesome!" he cheered, "What's your Quirk anyway? I couldn't figure it out during your spar!"

"Ah!" Izuku beamed as he began to speak. He truly loved being able to talk about _his Quirk_. The more he did, the more he realized it was real and not going away, "My Quirk is called **Phoenix Force**. I'm a Psychic!"

"Whaaa!" Inasa yelled in shock, "For real? Like the comic books?! Holy crap, you don't fight anything like them! Most of them just sit in the back like wimps!" He started laughing boisterously. "You're awesome, dude!"

Toshinori chuckled as Izuku went red, "That's because he spent too long wanting to be like me." Izuku went scarlet, "I've been weaning him off of trying to emulate me too much. He does far better with kicks than he does punches for example."

"I'll say! Those teleporting kicks were sick, dude!" Inasa lightly punched Izuku in the shoulder.

"Ah, Yoarashi-sa-" Izuku started to speak but his new friend cut him off,

"I~na~sa!" The taller boy interrupted, "That's my name dude! Use it!"

"Inasa-san, how come you came by here? No one ever does. It's why All Might chose this place to train me." Izuku asked him curiously.

"Hmm?" Inasa used his wind power to lift a fridge and bring it over, sitting on it, "Well, my dream is to make it into U.A., and just a few weeks ago my parents told me that my school had managed to secure a Recommendation for me!" He grinned proudly, "So I came to scout out the surrounding areas to see if I could find a nice place, and I heard about the beach! I couldn't resist going for a swim since the weather probably is going to get pretty crappy soon enough! While I was swimming, I saw all this garbage at the other end of the beach saw that and everyone was avoiding it like the plague. I happened to see an explosion over here when I was in the water, so I came to check it out!"

"Hmm, thank you Yoarashi-shonen. Perhaps we'll need to be a bit less… zealous when training, Midoriya-shonen." Toshinori commented, "It could have been bad if someone else had seen us."

"Yeah…" he murmured, a little disappointed that they wouldn't be able to go 'all out' anymore. He then shook himself, "Wait a second? You got a Recommendation to U.A.?! That's amazing! You're so awesome, Inasa-san!"

"Bwahahaha! Yep, they have always been my first choice!" He held his hand beside his mouth and leaned forward as if telling a secret, "I'm kinda tempted to go to Shiketsu instead though. Have you seen their SICK hats?" Izuku burst out laughing, and Toshinori followed.

 **-]|[-**

"Where has the time gone, dude?" Izuku and Inasa found themselves back at the beach where they had met, all those months ago. Both of them were sitting on the sea barrier, though lounging was a more apt descriptor for Inasa. Fall had come, and Winter had almost gone. The weather was turning milder now and the Sakura trees were even starting to bloom in some parts of Japan.

Some of Inasa's boisterous attitude had rubbed off on Izuku. Having a friend had done wonders for the boy, even if Inasa could really only visit on the weekends. "Just think!" A wide smile was on his lips, "By this time in two weeks, we'll both be U.A. students!" Classes were almost over, and it was time for possibly the most grueling exams they would ever take. Deliberation post exams usually took about a week. Two weeks, and their futures would be known.

They watched the waves, and Inasa clapped him on the back, "It's still amazing to think of what a dump this place was when I first saw it! You're a great guy, my man! Even if it was for training, you really cleaned this place up!"

"You helped!" Izuku retorted, though he was still smiling and a little pink.

Inasa scoffed, "Barely. And only on weekends. You did the lion's share, dude. Be proud!"

" **Indeed!** " They both jumped as All Might spoke up behind them. Neither had known the man was there, " **Yoarashi-shonen, might I have a moment with Midoriya-shonen?** "

"Sure!" Inasa grinned and leapt to his feet, "I was about to head home anyway. I'll see you next weekend bro!" A clap sounded as Izuku and Inasa dapped.

"Later!" Izuku waved as his friend ran off, "What's this about, All Might?"

All Might deflated, though he still had a giant grin on his face even as Toshinori, "I wanted to tell you how proud I am, Midoriya-shonen." Izuku went scarlet at his mentor's tender tone, "You are going to do great things, my boy. You're going to be a greater Symbol of Peace than I ever was."

"A-All Might!" And like usual, Izuku reverted to stammering at praise. Even ten months hadn't been enough to erase years of poor treatment and ridicule. He simply didn't really know how to react to a compliment.

"My only regret is not being able to give you One For All. You truly are the best successor I could have asked for!"

Izuku smiled, and his eyes got a little watery, "I… I'm so thankful. I almost feel like I've cheated. You've helped me so much! I've been so lucky!" He wiped his eyes with an arm.

"Oi, oi, what are you saying now? This has all been your effort!" He chuckled boisterously like Inasa, "And we really need to fix those leaky eyes of yours. Look around you shonen! Ten months ago, this beach was a dilapidated trash heap! Not a speck of grime remains today! You even cleaned outside of where I told you to! All of this was _you_! None of it was luck, and you went through much hardship in the past to get here! **Being lucky and being born with a silver spoon in your mouth is very different from working your butt off and earning it! Take that to heart! If you were going to be receiving my Quirk, you would have already earned it thrice-over!** " He clapped a hand onto Izuku's shoulder, " **I'm afraid we can't have the award ceremony you deserve today, Midoriya-shonen. Instead, your reward for all your hard work will be the start of your dreams!** " Izuku stared up at All Might who clenched a fist in front of him, " **Your Hero Academia awaits, shonen! Go out and claim your prize!** "

Izuku nodded sharply, "Yes sir!"

 **-]|[-**

"Whoooaaa…" There was something different about being in front of U.A.'s gate for real. The last time he'd been here, they'd gone through another gate meant for vehicles. He could see the busts of old, famous heroes staring at the path leading up to the beautiful, all-glass main campus building. Some of the more egotistical students probably figured they were getting the royal welcome.

"Move aside, Deku!" He heard a familiar voice behind him, and reflexively flinched to the side. Even if the sandy-blonde hadn't tormented him at all the past ten months – ever since their rather explosive confrontation in their school – old habits died hard. "Out of the way, or I'll kill you!" His old friend snarled.

' _Good to see some things never change._ ' Izuku snorted lightly as the thought ran through his mind. He tried to smile supportively and fell into step beside the boy, "G-good morning to you too, Kacchan. Let's do our best."

Or rather, he would have fallen into step if he hadn't been so overly excited and tripped over his own damn feet, ' _Of course._ ' His face was deadpan, ' _My life ends before it begins._ ' He then wondered what was taking so long for the ground to meet his face. He looked down and goggled at the fact that he was floating. He hadn't used his own quirk – he really should have, in retrospect. He needed to get better about using it instinctively in everyday life. But having no Quirk for so long made things slow-going – so why wasn't he falling?

"Ah, got you! Are you okay?" A female voice said happily, "It's a bad omen to fall on a day like this, you know! I used my Quirk to catch you. Sorry!" Izuku fought the urge to flail and instead righted himself with his psychic abilities, "Wow! That was cool!" The girl said cheerily as she clapped her hands together. He turned around and was almost blinded by how much of a bundle of joy and happiness this girl seemed to resemble. Even her cheeks seemed to have a perpetual blush on them. She had fair skin, big, round brown eyes, and shoulder-length brown hair styled into two long locks beside her face. She also had micro-bangs which swept to her left and a short bob at the back.

"T-thanks!" Izuku managed to squeak out, his face bright pink. ' _I…I just talked to a girl!_ ' Inasa may have been his first friend, but a cute girl he was not.

"No problem!" She replied cheerily, "Man, this sure is nerve-wracking isn't it? We better get going! Good luck on the exam!" With that, she raced away. Izuku stood there for another minute or two, unable to think of anything else but that encounter.

Roughly ten minutes later, he found himself beside Katsuki in a giant auditorium. The energy and tension in the room was palpable. It almost felt like a physical force. And then their proctor showed up, "For every one of you little listeners, welcome to my show! EVERYBODY SAY 'HEEEEEEEEYYYYYY!'" The man with blonde, extremely long gelled hair swept back and upwards cupped an ear with his hand.

Silence.

He shrugged, a massive grin still on his face, "What a refined response. That's cool too, my little listeners. Time to show you then! I'll present the specifics of today's practical exams! ARE YOU READY?! YEAAAAAAHHHHH!" Again, he was the only one who shouted. Everyone was just too nervous or fanboying like Izuku.

"It's the **Voice** Hero, Present Mic! Awesome!" He almost squealed, hiding his face partially behind his hands. "I listen to his talk show every week. He's so inspirational! I guess all the teachers really are Pro Heroes here!" Mumble mumble mumble…

"Shut it." Katsuki snapped from his place beside Izuku.

"This is how the test will go, little listeners! You'll all be doing ten-minute-long 'dry runs' against villains we will be providing. These are 'Mock Cityscape Battles,' so you can bring anything you want with you! After this presentation, you'll be moving to your assigned battlegrounds."

"Consecutive IDs are all assigned to different locations." Izuku mumbled, after taking a peak at Katsuki's sheet as well as the unknown person next to him.

Katsuki also realized what was going on. "That's so people from the same school can't just form a group and slay the exam together, huh?"

"Probably." Izuku replied, "We're much more unlikely to form a team with random strangers, and even less likely to actually trust them or be able to coordinate abilities with such a time limit."

"Hmph!" Katsuki snorted, "I'll just crush em all. But it looks like you get to live another day, Deku!"

They started paying attention to Present Mic again, "Each site is full of three different types of Villains! You can think of it like that old retro game, Super Mario! Every type of enemy is worth a different amount of points, from one to three. And that's your goal, little listeners! You want to use your Quirks to destroy or incapacitate as many of these Faux Villains as possible and RACK THOSE POINTS UP!" he grinned and waved a finger at them, as if chiding a disobedient child, "And of course, playing a naughty antihero is strictly forbidden. No attacking fellow examinees or else!"

"My kind of test!" Katsuki had a mad grin on his face, almost salivating at what was to come.

"May I ask a question?" A tall, muscular boy stood up with his arm raised high. Present Mic agreed and pointed at him, causing a spotlight to shine down. He looked like he moved incredibly stiffly. Whether that was nerves or otherwise was unknown. He had blue-tinted black hair – combed perfectly – and square-rimmed glasses. He raised his provided sheet of paper and pointed to it, "There appear to be no less than four Faux Villains printed on this sheet! If that is a misprint, then as the most prominent school in Japan, U.A. should be ashamed of such a foolish mistake! We are here as examinees in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes!" He then whirled around, "And you two! You've been muttering this whole time! If you're just here to fool around, you should leave!" His voice was loud and prominent as he stared intensely at the pair.

Katsuki immediately retorted with a cocky smirk on his face, "Or what, four-eyes?"

Izuku dipped his head in exasperation at the answer, mentally apologizing for the disruption.

But before things could escalate, Present Mic interrupted, "Okay! Good catch, Examinee 7111!" he then surprised them by letting out a very… sinister-sounding chuckle, "Though perhaps you'll wish you hadn't asked. See, if the previous villains are comparable to Goombas and Koopas, then these guys are the Thwomps! They're more like traps than targets!" His laugh got even more sinister, "There is only one of this type of villain at each site, but they're going to rampage in close quarters! If you get caught by it OR engage it in combat…" A wave of terror seemed to engulf the room, "You lose every single point you already earned!"

Even the person who asked the question seemed to be unable to speak, not even thanking Present Mic as he collapsed into his seat. Everyone – even Katsuki – had some amount of sweat dripping down the sides of their faces and their hearts were hammering in their chests.

"That's all from me, little listeners!" Present Mic switched back to his normal, happy self, "I'll leave you with our school motto! As the great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said, " _True heroism consists of being superior to all the ills of life._ " **PLUS ULTRA!** " He grinned again, "Break a leg, everyone!"

 **-]|[-**

Izuku had switched out of his school attire and had equipped his normal workout gear; the green and white tracksuit. Despite all the training he'd done with All Might and confidence-building he'd done with Inasa, he couldn't help but feel some of the anxiety he'd been trying to hold back set in. ' _What if I'm just not good enough? I've only been training for ten months. Everyone here has been preparing for years! I can't disappoint All Might! He put so much time and effort into me!_ ' A light sheen of sweat had started building on his forehead, and he wiped it away. ' _We have no idea how many Villains there are. What if I'm too slow and they all get taken out quickly?_ '

He wasn't the only one fighting back their nerves. One person tried to mask it with boisterous shouting, "Look how huge this place is! Only at U.A., right? They're supposed to have a bunch of different grounds like this!"

The old Izuku wouldn't have noticed that they were merely hiding their nervousness, seeing only confidence while he shook in terror. Funnily enough, seeing that he wasn't the only one affected calmed him a little. Instead he started taking note of how some of them even had equipment with them. He wasn't sure what the blonde guy's Quirk was, but it probably had to do with that belt he wore. He then jumped a little, ' _Oh, it's her! We're in the same battle group._ ' He started walking forward, intending on thanking her again, when a hand grabbed his shoulder and he jumped.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" The intense guy from earlier who had called him and Kacchan out glared at him, "That girl seems to be doing some kind of meditation. Are you hoping to interfere and throw her off her game?" He had switched out of his uniform as well into some skintight workout-clothes, and he ended up being as muscular as Izuku figured he would be.

All around, he could hear murmurs, "That guy tripped over his own feet at the gate earlier. What a joke. Oh well, once less rival, right?"

Izuku had resolved himself to try to be more confident, so he swallowed and shot what he hoped was an intense look of his own back, "O-or maybe I met her earlier and w-wanted to try to help. Did you ever think of that?"

The guy reared back but then narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "What's with the stuttering? Are you telling the truth?"

Izuku started getting irritated, "Of course I am! What kind of hero would do something like that!"

The boy found that an acceptable response and was going to apologize profusely for misjudging his fellow competitor, but he never got the chance. "AAAAAAAND START!" Everyone froze, question marks appearing over their heads. Present Mic loudly yelled at them again, "What are you waiting for, an invitation? The test has started! Run! RUN!"

Izuku turned around and nearly panicked as he noticed everyone else had already run off, some of them even laughing. Probably at him, since he hadn't moved, ' _I can't lose! Not here! Not after all All Might did for me!_ ' His body was enveloped in his signature emerald glow, and two seconds later he was past everyone except for the intense guy who was _really freaking fast_. Everyone who had spent the last couple minutes mocking him almost dropped to the ground in shock.

Everyone broke off into different directions and an explosion sounded from his left. A massive robot with a thick wheel as a base and shielded _dual-freaking-gatlings_ for arms had crushed straight through the building, " _Target acquired._ _Terminate._ " It aimed its arm which started spinning ominously and prepared to fire.

Izuku grabbed it with his Telekinesis and lifted it into the air, before throwing his arm down which sent the bot crashing into the pavement. The bot sparked and started sparking as it broke apart before exploding, ' _I did it!_ ' he shouted in his own head, filled with elation, ' _I can do this! I CAN DO THIS!_ ' He raced forward, feet no longer even touching the ground. The next enemy he saw was a three-pointer. It looked like a crawling tank with missile-launchers on its back. The blonde boy who had the belt had his arms behind his head in some funky pose. His belt was lighting up and preparing to do… _something_. Izuku teleported forward and appeared above the bot. A force blast directly downward pulverized it and the ground beneath it. The blonde had been one of the ones who had been poking fun at him earlier, and Inasa had rubbed off on him, "Thanks for the assist! Good distraction!" He quipped at the fallen boy, before using his telekinesis to get him back on his feet and teleporting away. The blonde was left with a slightly sour expression before regaining his look of supreme confidence and going hunting.

He appeared directly above the city and whirled around, searching for more enemies to fight. He saw a group of five of the two-pointers – scorpion-looking bots with vicious looking stingers – surrounding one of the people who had been the loudest when making fun of him. He looked like he was panicking. Even from this distance it was clear he was trembling. He raced forward, pulling something out from his pocket. Strangely enough, it was just his tie. His emerald power enveloped it and it straightened out, somehow managing to look _sharp_ despite being a normal piece of cloth. The loop which would have kept it on his neck was now just a round circle for him to grip on. He teleported and sliced apart one of the machines with a metallic-sounding _shiiing_. The bot crackled and fizzed before exploding.

The others immediately zeroed in on him as the bigger target. The stinger on the leader shot forward and Izuku deflected it with his glowing green 'sword,' before slashing the air. A sharp wave of forced shot forward. There had been a bot maneuvering behind his target to get into position, so the flying slash cut both of them apart. A quick push with his free hand saw the last two blasted into a building and exploding. He was about to take off again, when a shaky voice called out, "S-sorry for making fun of you earlier, kid! You're a real hero! Thanks!"

The guy he had saved had thanked him AND called him a hero. A warm, fuzzy feeling was enveloping him. Izuku grinned madly, "No problem!" He called before flying up again and searching for more people to save. This was what he had always dreamed of! "I'm doing it, All Might!" He yelled in utter glee, trying to keep from crying in joy, "I'm doing it!"

…

In a darkened room, Toshinori stood before a massive number of panels along with a dozen others. His gaze was focused on his student, and a massive grin was splitting his skeletal face, ' _That's the way, kid._ '

Another person spoke up, "Such a wide battlefield and the time limit brings out the best in them."

Another picked up from where he left off, "Those who can assess a situation in moments; Information Gatherers." An image of a tall prospect with what looked like wings and other appendages stood on top of a building.

A squeakier voice continued, "Those who will never be late to the party; Mobility Experts!" A video of the intense boy with glasses crashing through a three-pointer with a kick appeared, followed by one of Izuku teleporting into the midst of their enemies.

"Those who can cope with any situation; Decision Makers!" The blonde kid Izuku had interrupted was flamboyantly blasting through three three-pointers with his navel laser. It switched to Izuku using his 'sword' to defend against a squadron of one-pointers before sending one crashing into its compatriots and ending them all.

A female voice piped up, sounding very… throaty, "And of course… _combat experts._ The natural born warriors." An explosion engulfed the screen before clearing, revealing Katsuki Bakugo standing amongst the shredded husks of half a dozen enemy bots. It then switched to Izuku again, passing through a squadron like the Shinigami was possessing him.

"The abilities needed to preserve peace in our cities are judged by the points they earn." The squeaky voice said.

"Quite a crop we have this year, huh?" The female said, followed the sound of her licking her lips.

"Nah, no way to tell yet." Toshinori finally spoke, "This should tell us more…" he flipped open the protective casing of a button labeled 'Yaruki Switch,' and firmly pressed it. Immediately, pandemonium started erupting on the screens as the _titanic_ final villain appeared. It was a behemoth taller than most of the _buildings_ and was capable of casually pushing them over. Dozens of student prospects simply started turning tail and running as the city broke around it, passing by their fallen examinees who weren't quite able to get away with barely a glance in their directions.

"People show their true colors when they face that thing." One of the males replied to him.

The One For All wielder's grin hadn't vanished from watching his pupil, and likely wouldn't for several hours too, "When they have nothing to gain… no, when they have _everything to lose_ , rising to the challenge at those times… IS SURELY THE MARK OF A GREAT HERO!"

…

Izuku's eyes had grown wide as dust and grit from collapsed buildings surrounded him and his fellow examinees. The only thing saving him from a couple hours of irritated eyes was his psychic barrier keeping it flowing around him. When it cleared, it revealed the massive green enemy. It had a flat face with a bunch of red 'eyes' and massive hands. It truly was the definition of 'overwhelming.' It was decimating the city in its rampage.

All around him, examinees were running for their lives (and points). None had forgotten the warning from Present Mic. The intense and incredibly fast boy passed by him with a glance, wondering if maybe the surprisingly-powerful boy had been utterly rooted in terror. The glance ended, and he sped past, not bothering to lend him a hand.

Izuku stared for a moment longer, before making to turn away like the rest, ' _Have to avoid that thing and keep earning points._ ' Only that didn't happen. Something made him freeze. A small cry of pain reached his ears. He jerked back and saw the dust settle in front of the amazingly-bright girl who'd saved him from a faceplant earlier in the day. ' _It's a bad omen to fall on a day like this, you know!_ ' Her bubbly voice rang in his head, contrasting powerfully with the look of pain and fear on her face as she tried to pull herself out from underneath a broken slab of concrete. She tried to inch out, and when that failed, tried to reach back and tap the concrete, but she was unable to reach. Her fingertips barely brushed, which didn't seem to be good enough.

The villain stopped before her and reached for her body.

Izuku didn't think. A second ago he was over a hundred meters away, and now he was directly beside her. She gasped, a look of horror flowing over her features as Izuku leapt at the villain's hand, swinging his sword-tie and completely splitting the massive, metallic appendage in twain. "N-no!" She cried out as she realized what that meant.

Izuku's brain caught up with him when he reached the apex. His eyes were shadowed as he floated above the behemoth, but it was easy to see the tears pouring down his face because they were dripping down. His extreme emotions intensified the glow around his body, and he lifted the 'blade' with finality. A hoarse cry of despair and fury rang out from him, catching the attention of all the examinees who hadn't already been gaping at the destroyed arm. The glow around his tie was half a dozen times larger than the no-longer-flimsy piece of cloth, and he swung down after hooking his other hand into the loop for a two-handed grip.

The two halves of the massive enemy literally sprang apart as if they were spring loaded, after an emerald light seemed to travel down its form. It happened so fast it took a second for the explosions to start. All the examinees stared in dumbfounded shock as the enemy which had so-terrified them was utterly annihilated in two blows.

And then the screaming began. The girl's eyes widened in horror as the boy who saved her dropped his tie – which fluttered harmlessly in the wind as it blew away – and clutched his head, _howling_ in complete and utter agony. The pain in his head was excruciating. It felt like someone had taken an industrial blender directly to his brain and dialed it to eleven. He started falling, in no condition to even think coherently much less use his powers any longer. The girl fought her panic and produced strength she didn't know she had, lifting the concrete which had immobilized her earlier with a grunt of determination. She then limped over to the head of one of the enemies she had taken out and touched it. It started floating and she hopped on, floating up to meet her savior, where she threw her body at him and managed an unfortunately hard slap to his face.

Her powers made him float too, and he slowed enough to fall almost-gently to the pavement. She clasped her hands together, and both she and her savior crashed down. Then, a green hue overtook her skin, and her cheeks and eyes bulged. She bent over and vomited down the side of the monstrous metal head she lay on.

Even though she had saved him, the boy was still writhing on the floor, clutching his head and crying out in pain. "Make way!" Her attention was drawn to an old lady running towards them. Everything about her clothing made it clear that she was a healer. And that thought made her realize… the exam had to be over. She must have missed the announcement entirely in her hurry to keep him from splattering. Recovery Girl – that was her name, she heard from the blonde boy with the belt – hurried over and her lips stretched away from her face, kissing the boy on top of his head, "Smoooooch!" A glow enveloped her hero, different from the one he'd sported during the exam. It was a different color and centered on his head. Slowly, his cries came to a halt and he stopped writhing. "He'll be okay!"

The brunette sighed in relief, "Thank goodness." She slumped back down, narrowly avoiding putting her cheek on her vomit, which was good because she probably would have just hurled again.

Recovery Girl drew her attention again though, "What a scary Quirk though…" She was staring beyond Izuku for a moment, before she turned away and started going to the others, stopping momentarily to heal her ankle – huh, she hadn't even realized how much it hurt until the relief had set it – before moving on. She turned her head to see what Recovery Girl had been talking about, only for her jaw to drop. Izuku hadn't just cut the robot in half.

U.A. had a new freaking _canyon._

Away from them, the tall, intense boy was also staring, though his fists were clenched. All around him, others were talking, "He jumped right at that thing! What an idiot! He lost all his points! Was his jumpiness just an act to get us to lower our guards earlier? He was so freaking strong! Just what is his Quirk?"

The boy adjusted his glasses, ' _That's not it… weren't they even watching?_ ' he looked at the brunette, who herself was watching as the heroic student was wheeled away, ' _He jumped in to save that girl! The remaining time… his own safety… even his points! He didn't even hesitate!_ ' His fists were almost clenched hard enough to draw blood as he remembered simply passing by other examinees, ' _Of course, if this hadn't been an exam, I would have done the same._ ' He thought as he bit his lip.

Later, he would realize how fake that declaration was even in his own mind. It would lead him to do quite a bit of soul searching as he compared himself to the _real_ Hero in this exam. Ultimately, it would galvanize him and make him work harder than ever.

But for now, those thoughts weren't in his mind. Instead, it was almost like a light bulb went off, ' _! The exam!_ ' He went back to grinding his teeth, ' _Could it be? If the exam is structured like_ that _then he…_ '

The brunette had managed to get herself back up and was stomping away with determination in her gaze. That boy had lost all his points to save her life and _like hell_ was she going to sit around and do nothing. The proctors were going to listen to her _or else._

 **-]|[-**

The weekend had arrived and Izuku lackadaisically made his way to his training site. His gaze was unfocused as he walked, and his face was despondent. When he arrived, Inasa was already there, waiting for him. He sat down roughly and glanced over at his friend. For a moment, he forgot his own depression. Rarely had he seen such a look on his energetically happy friend. "You alright?"

Inasa was staring at the waves with such an intense, stiff gaze he resembled the guy from the exams. "I never told you, did I?" Inasa finally spoke, "When I was young, I had a hero I admired the same way you admire All Might." Even now, he wasn't looking to his friend, instead glaring out at the rising sun, "I think heroism is all about bringing the heat! A hero's fiery soul ignites passion and hope in people! So when I first saw Endeavor, I loved him man. Thought he was the hottest guy around. I wanted to be just like him." He spat to the side, "I went to get his autograph once, you know. He just brushed me aside." He looked at Izuku, "No, he didn't just brush me aside. He literally knocked me over and snarled at me to get stay out of the way. His eyes man… it was like his eyes dunked me in ice water. He had no spirit in him at all! Just icy rage!"

He clenched his fist, "I met his son at my own exam. The Recommended students get a different one from you guys. I spotted him almost immediately… cuz he had those same damn eyes. I can't accept either of them as heroes!" He cried out furiously, "As far back as I could remember, I had never been afraid of anything! Before I knew it, I was totally obsessed with heroes! They dive headfirst into trouble and give it their all! That fire and drive was everything to me! So when I saw those eyes so full of hate, staring out at something in the far distance… I couldn't stand it! But still, Endeavor's son had the red-hot skills! I thought that maybe those icy eyes wouldn't matter! That I could make friends with him! But that damn bastard wouldn't even look at me." He pounded a fist into the barrier, "I don't want to be in the same class as this guy. I'm going to reject my admission."

After days of numbness, Izuku finally had a spark of life in his gaze once more, "You can't do that!" he leapt and put both hands on his friend's shoulders, forcing him to look at him, "U.A. is your dream dude, just like mine! You can't let one person ruin your dreams!" Inasa still looked mulish, so Izuku continued speaking passionately, "Besides, you don't know anything about the guy! Maybe he has a reason for the way he acts! You don't know if he's been through a tragedy or anything like that! Shouldn't it be our jobs as heroes to help people like that? To inspire hope! You can't just run away! Was all that talk about Spirit lip-service?!" Inasa's jaw was clenched as Izuku backed away, and his knuckles popped, before he surprised Izuku by punching himself in the face, "Wahhh! Dude, stop _doing_ that!"

"You're right." Inasa spat a bit of blood away, "You're right. That is what a hero would do, isn't it?" He chuckled, "Thanks for knocking some sense into me, my man."

"You did that yourself!" Izuku retorted quickly, before slumping and laying down on the sand, spread eagle.

"You didn't look so happy yourself. What happened?" Inasa asked, and Izuku's face closed up again.

He let out a resigned sigh, "I failed…"

"WHAT?!" Inasa's explosion was as predictable as one of Kacchan's.

"There was a trap enemy in our exams." Izuku groaned heavily, "Getting caught by it or engaging with it reduced your points to zero. There was a girl…" Inasa's face lit up, "She was in trouble…" He closed his eyes, "Before I knew what was happening, I was cutting its arm in half to save her."

"Pfff, you don't really think U.A. would do something like that, do you? That was probably just to put you guys to the real test! You have so much fire in you, dude! They can't possibly reject a hot-blooded guy like you!" He laughed boisterously, trying to cheer his friend up.

"…" Izuku closed his eyes, "I actually thought of that too. I even figured you might be right." Tears started leaking from his shut eyelids, "But it's been three days, and All Might hasn't contacted me. Hasn't even replied to the texts I sent him…" He cried out.

The smile fell away from Inasa's face, and he gaped at his friend, "No way…" he went right back to furious, jumping down and walking closer to his friend, "That's **bullshit!** " he roared, "No way could a Hero School reject a real hero like you! There's just no way!" he stomped back and forth, before stopping near his friend and throwing a hand out, "You're right that I shouldn't let go of my dreams over one person, but this is different! If they really reject a hot-blooded guy like you then maybe U.A. isn't really the greatest Hero School!" He stared hard into Izuku's eyes, "If you don't get in, I'm not going either! We'll both go to Shiketsu and show those bastards what being a real hero means, got it?!"

Izuku swallowed, his throat tight at what his friend was willing to give up for him. He started crying again, before clapping his hand into Inasa's and allowing himself to get pulled up, "Got it!"

Inasa finally started grinning again, "Right on!" He pumped a fist, "So, want to get a spar going and get the blood pumping?"

Izuku chuckled lightly, "Sorry, but I can't. My Quirk has been on the fritz for a few days. I think I overused it during the exams. I've been told to take it easy."

"Awww, what a bummer!"

 **-]|[-**

"I-i-i-i-zu-zu-zu-zu-izukuuuuu!" Izuku nearly jumped and clung onto the ceiling like a cat when his mom's frantic voice sounded from behind him. He turned and watched her trip and fall onto her knees, "It's here! It's really here!" In her hand – which she was extending to him – was a letter from U.A. High.

…

Izuku sat at his desk, trying to calm himself. He'd done all he could. Put in his very best effort. He _saved_ someone. More than one person, actually! He closed his eyes and tore open the envelope, opening his eyes as he heard a little click on his desk. He eyed the little disk in confusion, before it lit up, " **I am here… as a projection!** "

"Wha?! All Might?! I thought this letter was from U.A.!" Izuku stammered.

His mentor was wearing a yellow pinstriped suit, looking every bit the hero everyone knew him as. " **It's been a while. Sorry for the radio silence, but there was a whole lot to deliberate on.** " He bowed to the camera and to Izuku, " **My apologies, but I could say nothing until now since we're about to make the official announcement! I'm here in this town for one reason! As of this moment, I am a teacher at U.A. High!** " Izuku gaped at the screen, before furrowing his brow as All Might turned to look at someone else, " **Huh? What's that? '** _ **Get to the point. Whatever I want to say to him can be said later?**_ **' But… You'll edit it in post-production? Okay, guess it can't be helped.** " He turned back to the main camera and to Izuku, " **Midoriya-shonen, you scored very well on the written exam, but a goose egg in the practicals means an obvious result. I'm sorry.** "

Izuku's eyes went wide and tears started prickling in them, "No way! That…! That's just not right! Even after everything!" He clenched his fists.

"… **Is what I would say, if that were the end of the story!** " Izuku froze, and looked back at the floating screen, " **I may have been an entertainer in a past life, shonen! Observe!** "

The camera zoomed out, revealing a screen behind All Might. "The nice girl!" Izuku gasped as he stared at her.

" _Please, that boy in the green tracksuit… The one with curly, dark-green hair and freckles. I thought he looked kind of plain at first, but when the test started he started shining like a star! Do you know the one?_ " She had a determined look on her face and leaned forward while clenching her hands at her side, " _Please, I want to give him my points! He was the biggest Hero in that entire exam! He saved me and lost all of his points because of it! It's not fair for him to fail! At least as many points as he lost saving me! Please!_ " She had squeezed her eyes shut, " _PLEASE!_ "

All Might turned back to the camera as Izuku stared at her, his heart thudding in his chest and tears licking at the corners of his eyes. " **You are more than just your Quirk and your strength, shonen! You have the power to move the hearts of others!** " He crossed his arms in a 'X' in front of his chest with a massive grin on his face, " **We were NOT just looking for combat ability in this exam. Villain Points were just one aspect of it, and that trap villain did NOT take away any points! It was merely worth nothing!** "

Izuku began to cry in earnest as Present Mic appeared on the screen with the girl, " _I'm afraid we can't give him any of your points, little listener._ " He ruffled her hair proudly, " _But there's no need to worry._ "

All Might beamed at him, " **Not only do you keep every point you earned during the examination, but you've earned even more with your heroic actions! A Hero Course that rejects those who save others and do the right thing could** _ **never**_ **be called a Hero Course! This isn't all for the cameras! Heroics isn't about lip service! In this job, you risk your life and put your money where your mouth is! It's all about turning that lip service into reality! Hero Points!** " He roared, and the video changed to a darkened room where people were holding up score-cards, " **They are awarded by a panel of judges, and are another fundamental way for U.A. to evaluate you!** " Izuku saw nothing but high scores, sevens minimum.

The screen changed again, this time to what must have been exam rankings. And right at the top was his own name.

 **No. 1** Izuku Midoriya

Villain Points: 52

Hero Points: 89

Total: 141

All Might was grinning as broadly as Izuku was gaping. First place?! " **With such an effort, you weren't only gunning for my own high score, you just barely edged it out!** "

He was trembling and trying to see through his tears, quickly wiping them away and gazing at the screen.

 **No. 2** Katsuki Bakugo

Villain Points: 108

Hero Points: 0

Total: 108

He couldn't quite bite back the snort that erupted from him, and it sent some snot onto his desk to be cleaned up later. _Of course_ Kacchan would more than double his own villain score. Hell, his Villain score beat Izuku's Hero score, and it was the best one on the list!

 **No. 3** Ochaco Uraraka

Villain Points: 28

Hero Points: 50

Total: 78

"So that was her name!" Izuku yelled as All Might explained that – for her willingness to give up _all_ her points if it meant he would get in on top of saving him from splattering on the pavement – Uraraka had earned fifty points!

 **No. 4** Eijiro Kirishima

Villain Points: 39

Hero Points: 35

Total: 74

That was an unfamiliar name and he could go no further before the screen changed. He had to find out if it was possible to rewind this thing so he could check the others.

" **You both pass!** " All Might said over his shoulder, his back to the camera. He turned around and held his out hand, " **Come, Midoriya-shonen. This is your Hero Academia!** "

Izuku wiped his fresh set of tears away, "Yes sir!" he cried at the projection, before grabbing his phone and racing from his room. He had his mom to squeeze the life out of with a hug – or would it be the reverse, knowing her? – and Inasa to call.

 **-]|[-**

"What a set of exams!" One person exclaimed as they stared up at the monitor depicting the scores from this year's test.

"You're telling me! This one kid somehow managed over a hundred points with literally zero Hero Points. Something must have lit a fire up this kid's behind."

"The other kids were slowing down by the second half, but he somehow just seemed like he was getting faster." They stared at the picture which would be on Katsuki's ID card. At least in terms of combat potential, he certainly seemed like he had earned that smug smirk. "He got second place and not a Hero Point to speak of."

"Feh, boring. We've seen guys like that before." Another commented, "I'm more interested in Midoriya. He could have matched that type of score if he focused entirely on beating down Villains. He not only took down the Trap Bot but he also gave us a lovely new canyon."

"Don't remind me." Another grumbled, "Even after a couple hours yesterday I still haven't finished filling that in." The speaker was blocky. Like… literally blocky. He looked like an anthropomorphic block of cement.

"His own power seemed to hurt him though." One of them pointed out, "He was clutching his head and howling like he was getting tortured after finishing the Trap Bot."

Only one person didn't join in on the discussion. He had nondescript black clothes, unkept black hair, and a completely exhausted look on his face. His arms were crossed as he stared at the top ten scorers. ' _What a racket._ ' He turned away and walked out of the room without another glance.

 **-]|[-**

"All Might!" Izuku yelled as he touched down on Dagobah's newly cleaned beach.

Blood spewed from between Toshinori's teeth, "Who's that?!" Immediately, a couple who had decided to come view the waves underneath a large beach canopy started freaking out about his Hero form, "Repeat after me: Just my eyes playing tricks!"

Izuku had also stiffened up, and yelled out, "Sorry, was just a mirage!"

They both sighed in relief as the couple turned away, disappointed. Toshinori grinned and held his hand up for a high-five, "Good job, shonen. You performed extremely well! You even beat my old high score by a couple points."

Izuku high-fived back, but instead of being grateful he hissed, "Toshi you jerk! You had me and Inasa angsting for a week!"

Toshinori coughed up a little blood at seeing the irritation on his student's face, "Sorry kid, I really was insanely busy. I couldn't even feel my hand after all the paperwork I had to do. And I would have gotten in trouble if I had told you about it beforehand anyway." He grinned sneakily, "Though to be honest, in retrospect it would have been a pretty good prank if I had done it intentionally."

"We had already printed out Shiketsu Applications!" Izuku waved his arms up and down, Toshinori blanched before Izuku deflated with a sigh, "Still, when it finally came, it felt so great! You guys played up the Trap Villain perfectly. You had everyone fooled!"

"And you took it out!" Toshinori ruffled his hair with a giant grin, "I couldn't have been prouder! Students have engaged it in the past, but it's been over a decade since someone wrecked one. You more than earned your placement, shonen. And if you're wondering, I wasn't a judge. I figure you're the type to worry about favoritism." He then shined a look of worry on Izuku, "How are you feeling though? You were in an incredible about of pain from what I saw."

"Y-yeah." Izuku rubbed the back of his head wearily, "My head felt like it was going to explode. I hope that kind of pain is something that'll go away with training and increasing my limits. I couldn't even move afterwards, and I wasn't really able to even use my Quirk again until this morning."

"It is very likely that you will." Toshinori replied, " **One For All** … it was much the same for my master. Strangely, I got the hang of using it at 100% almost instantly, but she told me the first time she used it, she had a shattered arm and needed a healing Quirk to fix it. It's likely you would have had the same happen to you, since each time it passes on, the baseline is much stronger than the previous baseline. You would have been able to just heal it with your Flames of Regeneration though."

"I would have still felt the pain though." Izuku deadpanned, not quite glaring at his master.

"No pain, no gain. My own teacher…" He seized up, and Izuku watched as a full-body shudder ran through Toshinori, "You know what, never mind that last thought." He smirked and gave Izuku a thumbs-up, "What's important now is that you temper your vessel. Quirks are a lot like muscles. Unless something causes them to mutate unexpectedly, they generally don't just randomly grow new abilities or powers. The only way to make them stronger is to make yourself stronger. Well, unless you're creative and discover more ways to use it, of course. Generally, the more you use it, the more you'll be able to handle at your peak."

"Muscles can tear, you know." Izuku looked a little unimpressed, "What if I strain _too_ hard and set myself back?"

Toshinori grinned and all of a sudden, he was huge, " **Let's put that theory to the test then, shall we shonen?** " He vanished in a burst of pure speed, and a second later Izuku had to cover his eyes and stumbled back as a wall of wind almost knocked him on his behind. When he opened them again, he saw his old nemesis; the big rig. " **When you finished cleaning this beach, moving this truck from its location up to where we were collecting the trash to be taken away took you a grand total of three minutes and seventeen seconds. You were also trembling like a leaf from the first thirty seconds.** " He took out his phone and clicked onto the stopwatch feature, " **Let's see some improvement, shonen.** "

Izuku threw his hand up and focused, the emerald glow of his Quirk enveloping him. Slowly, the truck lifted up, but Izuku immediately noticed that All Might was right. He wasn't straining nearly as hard as he had the last time he'd moved it. It was also moving more quickly, though it was still a ponderous pace.

All Might grinned as the truck touched down, before turning his phone to Izuku; 1:53s. Izuku started to beam as he caught his breath, " **Excellent work, shonen!** "

"Holy shit, did All Might take a student!" The awed voice of the male of the couple from earlier screamed out.

All Might and Izuku started to sweat, " **Time to dash.** " They both vanished, Izuku with his teleportation and All Might with his… _might._

 **-]|[-**

Spring had come, the weather was turning nicer, and the Sakura trees were blooming in full. Inko hugged the stuffing out of her son at the door, "I'm so proud of you, honey!" She was holding back tears, "So, so proud." Izuku was in his school uniform, which consisted of dark green dress pants, a white dress shirt, a light-grey jacket with green lapels and cuffs with golden buttons, and red tie which he hadn't properly tied all the way. Izuku slung his backpack over his shoulder and glanced at his mom. She had lost a lot of weight over these past few months and looked so much happier. Izuku had no idea his own dreams getting crushed by Quirklessness had been affecting her so badly. The extreme guilt and sorrow must have been eating away at her for years, making her think she was a terrible mother.

Him getting his Quirk hadn't been a godsend only for him. "Love you mom!" He managed not to choke as he said it, pulling her in for an even tighter hug, "I'll do my best!"

"Izuku…" She smiled as he pulled away, "You look really cool!" A flash of bright white light made her cover her eyes, and when she opened them, he was gone.

…

' _So few applicants get in each year…_ ' Izuku thought to himself as he raced into the building and started looking for his classroom, ' _Less than one in every three hundred applicants manage to make the cut. Sometimes even fewer than that make it in. I've been so, so lucky…_ ' He almost started getting dizzy and needed to stop and ask for directions, ' _This place is so huge to- HOLY!_ ' He finally found the door he was looking for, and it was gigantic. It stood more than three times his own height. He could have two clones of himself appear and stand on his head in a stack and the top-most clone's head wouldn't have brushed the doorway. There was a big '1' with a big 'A' underneath it painted on the door. "Guess they have to accommodate all types of students since Quirks can change our bodies." He let out a sigh and then puffed himself up, ' _I finally made it! I do kind of hope Uraraka-san is in this class too. Plus, Inasa wouldn't tell me which one they put him in. Still, as long as Kacchan and the glasses guy aren't he-_ '

He opened the door, and was immediately beset by noise, "Remove your feet from the desk immediately! Such an act disgraces all the wonderful craftsmen who made our furniture and the upperclassmen who have come before us!"

Izuku deadpanned, ' _Of course both of them are here._ ' After getting the third-degree from Glasses in the exams, he had felt as if they would not get along in the slightest.

"Huh? What do I care about any of that shit? What school are you from, you extra?" Kacchan sneered at the taller boy.

' _Extra? For Pete's sake, Kacchan._ ' Izuku thought to himself as he made to step in.

"M-my name is Tenya Iida. I hail from Somei Academy!" The newly-introduced Iida stuttered for a moment before answering.

"Somei?" Kacchan put extra inflection on the word, "So you're a damn elite huh? I'll have fun crushing you."

"Cr-crushing? You barbarian! Do you truly wish to become a hero?" Iida had a little dark-blue shadow on his forehead. He then caught sight of Izuku and hurried over to the door, holding out his hand for Izuku to shake. "We meet again! I'm-"

"T-Tenya Iida from Somei. I heard." Izuku shook his hand, though he still wasn't quite sure he wanted much to do with the boy after his judgmental attitude during the exams. Still, no need to be rude.

Iida straightened out and started to speak, "Before the exam began, I completely misjudged you. I wish to offer my sincerest apologizes for my words and actions." He gave Izuku a short bow.

Izuku was now slightly happy since Iida seemed to have turned over a new leaf. While he wouldn't quite forget the treatment from the exam, if Iida was willing to try to make amends it would be water under the bridge, "Izuku Midoriya. P-pleased to meet you, Iida."

"Midoriya-kun, you perceived the true nature of that exam, did you not?" He moved a little robotically, his hands out and looking like he was going to chop something with them, "As much as I hate to admit it, you were the far superior candid-"

"Perceived the true nature?" Iida stopped and looked at Izuku as he spoke with a confused note in his tone, "…I was angsting about it for a week dude. I thought I had failed."

Iida's eyes widened, and he resisted the urge to step back, "Truly? But why would you…?"

"Uraraka-san was in trouble." He said simply and behind him, said girl's face flamed red as she came closer to the door and caught the conversation, "So I moved to save her. That's all there was to it. I didn't even realize what I had done until it was already over."

Iida's teeth clenched a little, ' _He's…he's so much better than me there aren't any words for it._ '

Uraraka powered through her blush and got herself under control, "And you were so awesome while you did it!" Izuku jumped a mile in the air and turned, trembling slightly. Uraraka smiled happily at him, "You saved me! Thank you so much! And you got in as well! I was so happy when Present Mic told me you had!"

' _She-she's too cute in that uniform!_ ' Izuku started to stammer, trying futilely to keep his blush under control, "I-I-I have to th-thank you too! You spoke on my behalf…"

"Izuku!" Another person popped up behind Uraraka, "Looks like you made it, my man!"

"Inasa!" Izuku grinned, and they bumped fists, "So, you were in 1-A after all! Why wouldn't you tell me!" Inasa had his tie almost untied and some of his buttons were undone. Uraraka goggled for a moment, a little put-out at the interruption.

Over in his chair, Katsuki was glaring at the two, ' _Who is this guy and how does he know Deku?_ ' Little crackles flew from his fists as he clenched them incredibly hard, ' _What happened to weak little Deku? I knew his Quirk was strong when it finally showed up… but he BEAT ME in the exams._ _ **ME**_ _!_ ' It was only the fact that he had more than doubled Izuku's Villain – and therefore combat – score that kept him from literally exploding.

"Where's the fun in-" Inasa started to laugh when they were again interrupted.

"If you're here to socialize, then go home!" They each froze and turned to look outside the classroom. On the floor was a yellow caterpillar!

"Wah, a talking caterpillar! So cool!" Inasa exclaimed, while Izuku and Uraraka had wide eyes and were completely taken aback.

A second glance later and they realized it was a _sleeping bag_ , and the face staring at them looked decidedly unamused, "This is the Hero Course." A hand snaked out from inside the bag with a pouch, which the long-haired man squeezed empty in a single suck. Iida, Izuku, and Uraraka were slightly blue as they watched him sit up and toss off the sleeping bag. He wore all black which matched his messy hair and a grey scarf, " _You_ mistook me for a caterpillar and it took you all more than ten seconds to settle down. Time is precious. You kids aren't very rational, are you?"

He strode inside while everyone wondered who exactly this was. _Izuku_ didn't recognize him, which said something. ' _He has to be a Pro Hero, right? I've never seen him before. And I've never seen one who looked so worn out either._ '

He even had a lot of stubble on his face and his eyes were bloodshot, "I'm your homeroom teacher, Shōta Aizawa. Pleased to meet you." He sounded everything but pleased. He reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a dark blue uniform with red and white stripes, "It's a bit sudden, but you all need to put these on and head to the field."

Everyone in the class had varying degrees of confusion written on their faces as the man walked right back out.

 **-]|[-**

"A Quirk Assessment Test?" the entire class repeated Aizawa's words in confusion.

Uraraka took a step forward, "But what about the entrance ceremony or the guidance sessions?" She asked cutely in confusion. She had really been looking forward to those and getting to know the school, her new peers, and the faculty.

"A waste of time if you want to become heroes." Aizawa replied lackadaisically, "You have very little time here at U.A. to learn what you need to learn. Our school prides itself on its 'freestyle' system of education, and that applies to the teachers as well." Everyone had question marks over their heads, "The softball throw, the fifty-meter dash, consecutive side-steps, endurance running, grip strength, the standing long-jump, seated-toe-touches, and sit-ups. You all did these in middle school but were never allowed to use your Quirks. It isn't rational, but the Department of Education loves dragging their feet about changing things and creating new standards." He glanced towards the group, "Bakugo, step forward. What was your record with the softball throw in middle school?"

Katsuki stepped forward with an expressionless look on his face, "Ninety-five meters." The past year – roughly – had been hell on him. He pushed himself harder than ever before after that damn Deku had shown him up in school.

Aizawa tossed him a ball with a strange little gizmo wrapped tightly to it, "Let's see what you can do. Go all out and use your Quirk. You're only not allowed to step from that circle. Give it all you got."

"Awesome. I think I'm going to like this class." Katsuki was starting to smirk as he stretched his arms, ' _'ll add a little_ boom _to the pitch._ ' He wound up, before chucking the ball as with a roar, "DIE!" A massive explosion accompanied it, and it flew nearly out of sight with smoke rings from the explosion accompanying it.

' _Die?_ ' The class collectively thought, utterly puzzled.

It landed almost a kilometer away, and Aizawa showed them his reader. 987.3 meters. "It's important for us to know your limits. That's the first step in figuring out just what kind of heroes you'll be."

The class erupted, "Wahooo! This is awesome!" A literally pink girl with horns and golden eyes in black sclera yelled out, "I can't believe we get to use our quirks right off the bat!"

"Almost a kilometer? Seriously?!" A boy with straight, black hair, very strange-looking elbows, and a triangular smile showing all his teeth looked equally excited.

"The Hero Course is awesome!" A very short boy with what looked like round balls on his head yelled out.

The pink girl yelled again, "This is going to be so much fun!"

All of a sudden, a feeling of dread enveloped them, "Fun, you say?" Aizawa was staring at them. His expression hadn't really changed, but there was something about him that made it seem like a bucket of ice had been dropped into their gym uniforms. "You've only got three years here and you're thinking about fun? Alright then. If you're just here to have fun, then I'm going to make a new rule." Izuku was very much getting 'Trap Bot' vibes from their teacher, so he used his most-neglected ability – Telepathy – to sense out the man's emotions. He almost never used it because it really felt like an invasion of privacy and he wasn't sure he liked that. "The person who scores the lowest in these exams will be judged as hopeless and will be on a one-way train back home before the day is over."

Truth.

Cold, honest, _brutal_ truth was all that was emanating from their teacher, and a shiver ran down Izuku's spine. Aizawa brushed his bangs back and had a strange smile on his face, his eyes wide and intense. He looked every bit a madman, "Your fates are in our hands. _Welcome to the Hero Course._ "

"What!" Uraraka gasped, "But it's the first day and we're risking expulsion?! That's not fair!"

"Natural disasters… rampaging Villains… freak accidents… The world isn't fair, Ochaco Uraraka. Calamity is always just around the corner, and Heroes are the ones who correct that unfairness." He grinned again, "If you were planning on hanging out for the next three years, you're in for a rude awakening, kids. U.A. will do its best to put you through one hardship after another, because villains and disasters don't discriminate. The only way we can ensure you survive to be splendid heroes is by ensuring you are the strongest, so bring it on. That's **PLUS ULTRA**."

"Trial by fire, huh?" Iida took a sip from his drink.

Inasa laughed boisterously, "I'm getting fired up! Bring it on, sensei!"

Izuku clenched his fists, "W-we fought and b-bled to get here sensei! We're not going home without a fight!"

The rest of the class was looking determined, bolstered by their words. Aizawa smirked, "Good to hear. The demonstration is over, so let's get it on. First up is the fifty-meter dash." He turned and led them over to the tracks, ' _They dispelled the aura of fear I created. Now they're all determined to pass. These kids are good._ ' The dashes were done in groups of two, one per lane. Aizawa called up the first two competitors, "Mina Ashido and Yūga Aoyama, step up."

The two were the pink girl and the blonde from the entrance exams with the strange belt. "I'm not going to lose!" Mina cried in determination. Her exotic look made her quite beautiful, despite how different in appearance she was. Her skin and hair were all pink of varying shades and she looked like she was pretty fit. She certainly had more muscles than most of the other girls. Her Quirk was **Acid** , which enabled her to project corrosive liquid from any part of her body. She could change the acidity and even viscosity with incredible precision. A side effect of her Quirk was her pink skin. The horns were from her father's side of the family.

Yūga on the other hand… _sparkled._ And he looked even cockier than Katsuki, somehow. He had perfectly-combed blonde hair that reached his neck. Izuku had already seen his Quirk during the entrance exams; **Navel Laser**. He was capable of projecting a sparkly, powerful laser beam from his belly button. He was able to alter distance and intensity freely. However, due to a birth defect his Quirk 'leaked' and he had to wear his belt pretty constantly to control it. Using it for more than one second caused his intestines to hurt.

His face seemed perpetually stuck in a flamboyant smirk, his mouth an upturned 'V.' He spoke an odd combination of Japanese, English, and French, "No Quirk is better for a Pro Hero than my fabulous **Navel Laser**. Watch closely everyone. Creativity will win the day here!"

He turned around and stood, whereas Mina was in the proper starting position for a race with her shoes off. The robot they were using to record results fired off the starting gun, and they were off like a shot. Literally in Yūga's case. He jumped into the air, tucked in his knees, and fired off his laser, which forced him back with the recoil.

At that point, Izuku stopped and stared. How the hell was a laser providing recoil? Light was massless and shouldn't do that! His mumbling kicked into overdrive and made several of his classmates look at him strangely.

Yūga's beam petered out and he fell to the floor at about the halfway mark, skidding and dirtying his gym suit. Mina was basically skating on the track with a really slick acid. She passed him without even a glance as he stood back up and repeated his shot. She still beat him by a good half second.

Mina: 4.92 seconds

Yūga: 5.51 seconds

To think; hundreds of years ago such times would have been seen as impossible records. Back when sports were still heavily regulated to be Quirkless, people trained for years in single disciplines and wouldn't have been able to overcome such times. Now? Fresh teenagers broke old Olympic and World Records routinely.

Yūga didn't turn, but he did turn his head to his classmates. His smug smirk was apparently permanent, "If I had fired off a second sooner, my stomach would have exploded." Everyone stared at him as if he were a weirdo.

The next group was Katsuki and Tsuyu Asui. Katsuki used his explosive Quirk basically like an afterburner. How he didn't just fall over was a mystery. He finished the race in 4.13 seconds, with Tsuyu displaying some incredible leaping ability and finished in 5.58 seconds. "Kero." The girl had sleek, extremely long dark sea-green hair that appeared silky. Her eyes were round and much larger than normal. Her mouth was wider than normal, and her tongue was very long. Her Quirk was simple in theory, but in actuality it was one of the most versatile Quirks Izuku had seen. **Frog** allowed her to do anything any species of frog could. Who knew what she would be able to do with some creativity.

Next up was a floating set of clothes – they literally had an invisible girl named Tōru Hagakure in their class – and Iida. Iida pulled up his pant legs revealing a thicker-than-normal set of calves, which quickly grew six _pipes_ on each leg. He also rolled up his sleeves and two larger pipes grew on his elbows. Iida's Quirk was named **Engine** and he was capable of manifesting his tailpipes on his legs, arms, and back. Additionally, his limbs and sense of balance were incredibly strong. He was perfectly comfortable with kicking through the steel bots during the entrance exams and didn't feel even a twinge of pain when doing so. However, he needed fuel to power his Quirk; his drink of choice being orange juice. Carbonated drinks literally made him stall. This race was a forgone conclusion. He finished the race with an extremely fast time of 2.34 seconds. Hagakure was just a normal teenager who hadn't actually trained for things like this, so she had the worst time yet by far; 7.99 seconds.

"A-awesome job Iida!" Izuku hesitantly offered the boy a high-five, which Iida happily returned.

"Thank you, Midoriya. I'm quite eager to see how you'll do." Iida replied while sipping from his bottle.

And on it went. Kyōka Jīrō had fair skin, black eyes which sported an uninterested gaze, and short purple hair with asymmetric bangs. There were lighter, lavender-colored streaks in her hair that resembled soundwaves. Her most eye-catching features were her earlobes, as they resembled the plugs one would find on headphones. Her Quirk was the sound-based **Earphone Jack** and it did not really help her in events like these. As it only allowed her to project and amplify sounds in terms of offense, it wasn't ideal for these sets of tests. She still put up better numbers than Tōru.

When it was her partner Kaminari's turn, Izuku couldn't figure out if he admired the blonde's Quirk **Storm** or if he felt bad for the guy. He had a naturally stronger body which was a boon in the tests, but his real power was his body's ability to store and manipulate electricity. He could additionally control magnetism since the two forces were linked. He could absorb electricity from any source and even boost his own healing rate by doing so. On the other hand, he could not touch any body of water bigger than whatever was in his water bottle or he would lose control over his electricity and start frying himself and anything that happened to be in it. The poor blonde had to ground himself to something metal to even be able to shower comfortably. He couldn't go to the pool or any water parks because the more water he was in, the worse the shocks would be. After a certain point of immersion, he would be taking damage more quickly than he could heal and would become paralyzed. Rain always put him in a bad mood since it put his powers on the fritz. If he got caught in a downpour he would continuously experience rather painful shocks until he got dry. Additionally, due to his power he naturally set off things like fireworks. He was not allowed to drive or even be _in_ a car because there was a risk of setting off the gasoline. He thanked his lucky stars every day that he instinctively could reign in his powers when touching other people, otherwise he would be electrocuting everyone with a handshake. He finished in just over Mina's time at 5.01 seconds.

Next up was Eijirō Kirishima – the red-haired, boisterous fourth-place competitor in the Entrance Exam who only missed taking home the bronze by a few points – with the awesome quirk **Hardening**. This really did nothing for him in a race, but the guy clearly put in the effort. He was fast and strong and the second they got to talking, he and Inasa became fast friends. He finished in 4.70 seconds.

Kōji Kōda had another sound-based Quirk named **Anivoice** , which allowed him to control any animal that could hear him speak. As he appeared to be mute from what they could tell – either that or he was shyer than _Izuku pre-Phoenix-Force –_ he had to rely on his own strength. He had a strangely shaped head and a muscular build, which served him well. He finished in just over six seconds, long after Kirishima.

And then it was Izuku's turn with Mezō Shōji. The boy was incredibly tall and wore a mask, which was partially obscured by his long, silver hair which swooped in front of his face. He had his uniform cut off at the arms, because he had multiple appendages that could grow body parts and morph freely. He liked forming mouths on them to talk as well as eyes to get more vision. The Quirk was named **Dupli-Arms**. Shōji proved to be very athletic, running in at just over four seconds.

As for Izuku? He took one step and disappeared, his body reforming at the robot for it to measure him. His total time was .23 seconds. Everyone dropped their jaws at his insane record, and Izuku himself flushed bright red when everyone started praising his effort.

"Deku, YOU BASTARD!" Izuku winced as Kacchan's voice sounded off behind him, "What was that, shithead?! I thought your Quirk was telekinesis!" the explosive boy started… well… exploding and rushed forward, intending on fighting his rival who just had to keep _fucking showing him up_.

Only he never reached him. Several gray strips of cloth enveloped him and prevented him from continuing forward. He strained, trying to escape but was incapable of doing so, "What the? These things are so stiff. And why can't I use my Quirk?"

"They're special capture weapons made of carbon fiber and metallic alloys." Aizawa responded, and everyone took a step back. Their teacher's hair was levitating into the air of its own accord. A set of goggles were revealed on his neck, where his scarf had hidden it. "As for your Quirk… I've erased it."

Izuku gasped, "Oh my god! You're the **Erasure** Hero, Eraserhead! You can nullify other Quirks just by looking at someone!" The class started murmuring. Most of them didn't really know who he was since he hated the limelight. A few of them knew his name, though they had never seen him before.

Katsuki had stopped struggling, so Aizawa released him, "Don't make me use my Quirk to stop a fight again. I have dry eye."

' _It's such a waste! He has an amazing Quirk!_ ' The entire class had that thought run through their heads.

"Midoriya, Bakugo asked you a question. Will you answer so we can get the rest of this over with?" Aizawa

"Ah, I'm a psychic!" He said at a rapid pace, trying to keep from swallowing his own tongue, "So I can teleport among other things. I learned that one about three months after I started using my Quirk." Everyone started murmuring except for Bakugo, who merely began grinding his teeth together in fury.

"Everyone better watch out!" Inasa laughed energetically, "My man here has been training his butt off! You won't beat him with a half-assed effort!"

"That's so awesome!" Mina was jumping up and down near Izuku and exclaiming that he was amazing. She had a brilliant grin on her face and had her fists pumping in front of her. "So, you two know each other?"

"Yeah, we've been friends and training partners for a couple months now." Izuku replied, managing to keep from stuttering despite the pretty girl being so close. His face was still giving her skin a run for its money.

Aizawa quickly put a stop to it and had the next two – Hanta Sero and Minoru Mineta – at the starting line. The very short boy Mineta had the Quirk **Pop Off**. The weird grape-like balls on his head could be torn off and were incredibly sticky once they were removed from his head. However, Mineta himself could choose whether he stuck or was repelled by them whenever he touched them. As soon as the race started, he began tearing off his balls and throwing them on the track, bouncing from one to the other to the finish line. However, because he was so short, he lost in stride whatever gains he had from his Quirk. He lost to Hagakure at 8.22 seconds. A few minutes were taken to remove Mineta's balls from the track.

Sero on the other hand, shot off some adhesive tape from his elbows. His Quirk was – creatively enough – named **Tape**. The tape stuck fast to the ground, and he reeled himself in. He finished in 5.22 seconds. "Ahhh, not quite what I was looking for." He still had a strange grin on his face, showing that he had very large teeth. His black hair was sleek and ended in spikes. He had a pretty plain face and beady black eyes.

The next duo had everyone excited. One of them was a regular looking student except for his head which resembled a black raven. He ran extremely quickly with nothing but his own athleticism, finishing in 4.92 seconds. But Shōto Todoroki was the next person to steal the show. He had a very exotic look to him, though not as much as Mina. His hair was split evenly down the middle, the left side being red and the right side being white. He also had heterochromia with his right eye being gray and the other turquoise. A large, red scar dominated his face near his left eye. As soon as the starting gun sounded, a massive pillar of ice grew under Todoroki's feet and threw him forward. When he landed, more ice formed a slick path which he speedily slid on right to the finish. He didn't beat Iida, but it wasn't by much; 2.94 seconds total.

Izuku shot a worried glance at Inasa at that point, but his friend was boisterously cheering just like most of everyone else. Todoroki didn't really acknowledge them much, merely giving a nod to them as a group.

Izuku took careful note of the next two. Both of them were girls which hadn't happened yet that day, since boys outnumbered the girls in their class. The first needed no introduction; Ochaco Uraraka. She looked to be doing some breathing exercises, though Izuku wasn't sure why. She had a pretty amazing Quirk from what he had seen of it. When she opened her eyes, Izuku saw an extremely competitive look in them. Suddenly the girl didn't look carefree at all, unlike her namesake.

"This is going to be so lit, fam! Let's have a good race, neh?" Her partner for the race was a girl with fawn-colored hair and very pouty lips named Camie Utsushimi. She was a competitor for bustiest in the class and hadn't really appreciated the glances The Grape Boy was sending her way. She sent a friendly grin over to Uraraka, "Let's do our best, kay Ochaco-chan? I ain't getting sent home today, no way no how. For realizes though, so many hot guys in this class. That Deku guy is straight up _fire_. And his Quirk is awesome too!" She was also a bit of a hypocrite.

Uraraka almost lost her balance as she walked side-by-side with Camie, "Wha-wha-wha are you saying?!" She waved her arms up and down, "Is this the time for that?"

Camie giggled, "Oopsie, you're right. My b, my b." They both reached the starting line and took their places.

Uraraka shook her head and regained her determination, though her cheeks were still pink. A brief pink glow flashed through her, and she took her position. The gun went off, and they were both off like rockets. Both of them ran the distance in five seconds flat. "Boom shakalaka! She's on fire!" Camie licked her middle finger – half the boys (and some of the girls) in the class went beet red and Mineta almost had a nosebleed – and pressed it to her forearm, "Tssss, we're hot, Ochaco-chan." Uraraka only didn't go completely red due to the kickback from her Quirk. Was this girl completely shameless? Camie then turned to Uraraka and quirked an eyebrow in concern, "Hey, you okay?" Her strange way of speaking went away when she saw Uraraka looking pale.

"Y-yeah." Uraraka swallowed and straightened up, "My Quirk has a pretty crappy side effect. It makes me really nauseous when I overuse it and using it on myself is the worst."

"Aww, that sucks." Camie commiserated, "My Quirk isn't really a direct combat type or an enhancement type, so I had to work my butt off to get this hot, ya dig?" She gave Uraraka the peace sign, "I can make illusions – both visual and sound based – so I call it **Glamour**. It's lit and I'm straight grateful to have it, but it's not really useful here, ya know?"

"Wow, so you are just naturally that fast?" Uraraka gasped, "I had to use my Quirk to go that fast. You're really strong, Utsushimi-san!"

They arrived back and Izuku congratulated them, "Nice job, Uraraka-san, Utsushimi-san!"

"Hey, thanks fam, but you can call me Camie!" Camie winked at him, and his red came right back, "You were too hot out there. Can I have like, your contact info?"

Jaws dropped and Izuku started to stammer, "I-i-isn't th-that a little t-t-too early, Utsushimi-san?" His face was on fire. He was almost iridescent.

Uraraka watched as Izuku steamed, and felt she had to get her own words in, "Yeah, you were amazing, Deku-kun! You beat everyone!"

Izuku startled, "Deku?" The rest of the class started paying attention, and even Aizawa decided to allow the slight interruption.

"Ehh?" Uraraka blinked at him repeatedly, "Isn't that your name? I heard erm… explody boy say it." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "Sorry about that, I haven't really been paying attention to names since I was so nervous about the tests. I missed it when Aizawa-sensei called you." She giggled nervously.

Izuku sighed, and everyone's interest peaked, "Well, that was actually just Kacchan being a jerk with a nickname when we were younger. I was a very late bloomer. I thought I was Quirkless until almost a year ago, so he called me that to say I was useless. My real name is Izuku Midoriya." He started mumbling by the end of it.

"So that's why he seems to confident one moment and then so jumpy the next." Iida had the realization spark through him.

One of the last two runners – Momo Yaoyorozu – was frowning as she passed by, "He must have been bullied when he was younger." Momo had a pretty awesome-looking hairstyle. Her hair was long and tied into a spiky ponytail. She had long bangs over the right side of her face which almost covered her onyx eyes. She patted Izuku on the shoulder as she passed by, in a minute show of support.

For once, Inasa was stone-faced, and glaring darkly at Katsuki. Izuku had forbidden him from starting anything, but he really hoped he got a chance to face this guy at some point.

"Salty AF." Camie sniffed and glared at Katsuki – who she figured must be this 'Kacchan' from the way he was glaring daggers at Izuku, "So not hot." The thought was mirrored by Mina, who was also glaring at Katsuki. She hated bullies.

"Fuck off." Katsuki snarled back and turned, walking away.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Uraraka cried out, before smiling brightly, "Still, I kind of like it though. It sounds like you shortened ' _Dekiru_.' You know, ' _You can do it!_ ' I think it could be a fun nickname instead!"

Izuku opened his mouth, before it clicked shut and he blushed, "Y-you know, wh-when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so bad." Uraraka smiled brightly at his response.

"As fascinating as this is, we have tests to run." Aizawa interrupted them and told the last two – Inasa and Momo – to line up.

Izuku stared intently as they got ready. Inasa merely took his position, but what Momo did made him go beet-red for the umpteenth time. She unzipped her top and shrugged it off, revealing a very mature physique and that she was definitely the most stacked girl in the class. She even had a nice and trim six-pack. Her black bra started glowing a rainbow of colors, and when it cleared she instead was wearing bandages which were tightly wrapping her chest. Her shoes also glowed and turned into perfectly-fitted skates. Finally, a small glow from each hand had two small tubes grow from her skin.

The gun sounded, and Inasa leapt forward. His body was perfectly parallel with the ground and he was spinning like a jet doing an aileron roll. Izuku goggled as he recognized it. It was a move straight out of Star Wars! Inasa crossed the line in 2.39 seconds, just barely losing to Iida. Momo on the other hand displayed some excellent speed-skating technique – maybe it was a hobby? – to pick up initial speed, before thrusting the two rods behind her and revealing them to be _goddamn rocket boosters_. She left a trail of smoke behind her and sped far past the finish line before the fuel ran out, and she had a bit of a sheepish look on her face when she finally skated her way back, "Sorry everyone. I used a bit too much."

"Perhaps, but you also took second place." Aizawa showed her his device, which was reading 2.22 seconds.

Momo smiled proudly while Iida clenched a trembling fist before him, "Third in my own event. How shameful!"

Izuku walked over to Inasa, who was grinning broadly despite taking fourth place, "Dude, did you seriously use the Sheev Spin?"

Inasa burst out laughing, but it was Camie who answered, "LMAO, was that it? I knew I saw that move before. That was straight up lit!" She gave Inasa a high-five.

Everyone but Inasa just had sweatdrop running down the side of their face as they shared a collective thought, ' _Did she seriously just say '_ LMAO _' out loud?_ '

The first set of exams were over, and Izuku was already feeling bad for the Grape and the Invisible Girl. They were very clearly at the back of the pack. He hoped they managed to find an event to excel at. He made his way over to Momo – who had already gotten dressed again much to his slight relief as well as his slight disappointment – and asked her about her Quirk, "Y-Yaoyorozu-san. May I ask about your Quirk? You were amazing back there!"

She smiled brightly at him, "Thank you Midoriya-san, though I must say the same. I'm quite curious about your own Quirk as well." The class paid close attention as they followed Aizawa to the next location. "My Quirk is named **Creation**. Using my body's fat cells as a building block, I can create any non-living thing as long as I know and understand its molecular structure."

"H-holy! You must be a genius, Yaoyorozu-san!" Izuku exclaimed, and their classmates started murmuring as well. "That must have been a difficult compound to memorize!"

She grew slightly pink, "Thank you, Midoriya-san. Additionally, as long as it doesn't stop touching some part of my body, I can further alter anything I create. That was why I was able to change my bra into those chest-bindings but not the U.A. Track Suit. It does take a bit longer to do so and requires more concentration, despite the benefits. The second I let go of them or they stop touching my skin, whatever I create becomes a permanent object."

"Hmm, can you bring your creations back into your body when you don't need them anymore? That way you regain some of your stores?"

Momo blinked, putting a finger to her lip and biting it lightly. She didn't even notice Izuku turn pink at the cute action, "You know, I've never actually tried. I will do so promptly! Thank you for the idea, Midoriya-san." She gave him a warm smile and he turned red, starting to stammer. She giggled in response, finding it a bit endearing. She realized quite quickly that it must have taken the formerly-bullied boy a fair bit of courage to try to speak to her.

Their talk set off the Quirk discussions, with everyone chiming in on their Quirks and explaining some things about how they worked. Uraraka explained that when she first got her Quirk – the awesomely-named **Zero Gravity –** she could only turn off gravity on anything she touched with all five of her fingers. "That's why I always hold things with my pinky out." She told them with a blush. She further explained that about a year ago, she had learned how not to just turn gravity off, but also manipulate it. When she ran her race, she had done so by making herself weigh about thirty kilos. She could also go in the opposite direction. She got a little despondent as she explained that straining her Quirk too much literally made her sick to her stomach. Still, she put on a brave face about it and started giggling, "A couple of the Quirk councilors were telling me that I should change the name of my Quirk since it isn't accurate anymore, but I just like it too much."

" **Zero Gravity** is an awesome name Ochaco-chan! Ignore all those fuddy-duddies!" Mina clapped a hand onto the brunette's shoulder cheerfully.

By then, they arrived inside the gym where they were performing their grip tests. Not much of note happened here, since most of the students got decent scores at best and awful scores at worst. Izuku realized at this moment that he didn't have nearly enough precision with his Telekinesis. They'd worked so much on brute strength that Izuku couldn't really keep it completely contained for a test like this. He managed about eighty-nine kilos before he accidentally mangled the dynamometer and narrowly avoided a disqualification. Poor Mineta got an awful score of twenty-six, getting beat even by Tōru.

There were only a couple standouts. Shōji managed a monstrous five-hundred-forty kilo squeeze. He did so by creating multiple arms with his Quirk and doing one massive squeeze with all of them. When Sero asked him if he was a gorilla or an octopus, Mineta went and weirded everyone out by commenting that, "Octopi were sexy." It didn't think too long for everyone to realize what he meant, and he earned death glares from all the girls.

Katsuki actually got disqualified in this event, because he blew up the measurement device. Inasa managed an impressive eighty kilos, and Tsuyu managed about seventy-five by using her long tongue. She did request that it be sanitized first, thankfully. Mina had proved herself incredibly athletic already by beating many of the boys in the first test and continued that trend by getting sixty-eight.

But it was Momo who was proving to be one of one of the strongest people in their class, male or female. She completely blew everyone away by creating a functioning JAWS OF LIFE and getting an error reading. It took her a few minutes of reading from a large book she carried with her and quite a bit of concentration (as well as a bit of fanservice since she needed to remove the shirt again) before she was ready to create it. Once she did, it took her a few seconds at best and worked perfectly.

The next test was a fun one; the standing long jump. At this point the class had done away with alphabetical order and were merely taking turns and trying their best. A clear chasm was forming between the top and bottom of the class, where it was clear that many of them not only didn't have suitable Quirks for these types of situations, but also either hadn't tried or hadn't tried hard enough to make up for those shortcomings. Mineta had ranked last in every single test so far.

First up was Todoroki, who formed a massive pillar of ice that threw him straight into the air and long past the end of the sand pit. Momo was eager to show off and took off her shoes for her attempt. She grew long sticks from the soles of her feet and shot forward. In midair, she shed her gym shirt once again and grew herself a paraglider, gliding at a quick pace down to the ground. She too cleared the area by quite a distance. Katsuki – furious at his failure in the previous test – created a _gigantic_ explosion with his feet AND arms which got him the farthest distance yet, and then proved his durability by _not_ completely splattering on impact. He wasn't even injured.

Iida followed almost Iron-Man style, leaping long and far, using his engines to get a bit of extra distance _._ Inasa and Izuku decided to go as partners and make a competition of it. Izuku glowed emerald and a whirlwind engulfed Inasa as they both took off, getting way farther than even Katsuki had. They'd agreed beforehand that they would only use their Quirks again to land safely. Only their initial takeoffs were enhanced since otherwise they would just be flying. By the time they landed, they had cleared about a football pitch and a half.

Mina and Camie again proved their metal in this test. Neither of them had enhancement Quirks and they _still_ managed to clear the sandbox with nothing but sheer athleticism. Uraraka made everyone burst out laughing when she leapt into the air and started _jogging_ inmidair with a giggling yell of, "Luigi!" It was totally worth the couple seconds of fighting down her nausea after she touched back down to see even their teacher Aizawa had cracked a smile. Tsuyu meanwhile had basically been made for this one. She leapt like her Quirk's namesake and almost tripled the length of the sandbox.

Really, the only thing bringing down the mood was the looming threat of expulsion. Izuku physically winced when poor Mineta – who could not use his Quirk at all because the jump had to be done in one motion for it to count. He therefore could not lay down some balls to use as a spring – performed an absolutely pathetic jump that didn't even cross a quarter of the sandbox. The rest of the class started feeling incredibly bad for the boy despite his obvious perversion. He had worked as hard as all of them to get here and now his short stature was clearly going to rob him. They were quite confused that he still didn't look completely and utterly discouraged. That confusion lasted until the next set.

This test really only had one really incredible score. It was finally Mineta's – one and only, unfortunately for the Grape – chance to shine. His short stature – and therefore low center of gravity – and Quirk was absolutely perfect for the consecutive side-steps. He created two 'bounce balls' using his **Pop Off** balls and kept rebounding off of them endlessly. He finally got a worthy score, and no one else really had a good time on this one.

The next was the softball pitch, which Katsuki threw a fit over not being able to try again on, as he felt he still could have done better. He sulked as Inasa and Izuku both went head-to-head – both one hundred percent back in training mode with All Might – and each cleared well over a kilometer. Izuku managed about a kilometer and a half. Inasa had them all blown away – "Get it?!" – by showing off his incredibly precise control. He not only chased the ball with a massive blast of spinning wind acting much like a bullet or a drill, but he also removed all airstreams ahead of it up until it got so far way he couldn't control it anymore. His ball landed _two and half kilometers_ away. Everyone was sure that there was no possible way that score could get beaten.

And then Momo again awed them with her sheer ingenuity and mental acuity by creating a fully-functioning _cannon_ with her Quirk _._ She helpfully also provided earmuffs for everyone. She angled it at forty-five degrees and fired. When the ball finally landed far, far away, Aizawa showed them her score. _Six kilometers_. "Holy cow Yaomomo!" Mina almost jumped on the more-reserved girl's shoulders, "That was amazing! There's no way anyone could possibly beat that!"

While everyone was congratulating her, she just had a cute, strangely-confused look on her face, "Yaomomo?" She looked adorable.

Finally, it was Uraraka's turn. She had her sweet smile on her face as she touched the ball and threw it. She watched as it went up. And up. She used her hand to shade her eyes to continue watching it. And watching it. And then there was a twinkle in the sky and Aizawa showed them the 'infinity' symbol with a deadpan look on his face. Uraraka flashed a brilliant smile and started hopping in excitement.

"She got infinity! How can anyone possibly win now!" Kaminari yelled with wide, twitching eyes, "How can anyone else get first place now? She automatically wins everything with a score like that, right?"

"No. When calculations are done I'll just give her a meter more than Yaoyorozu." Aizawa denied.

"Wow, does my Quirk really never turns off if I don't want it to?" Uraraka had settled down and put a finger near her lip while she thought. She looked as adorable as Momo had. She put the pads of her fingers together, "Release!" She said and waited to see if the ball would come down.

"It probably already left orbit, Uraraka-san." Momo commented after putting a hand on her shoulder, "Come on. No use watching for it now. It probably wouldn't even land around here. We have more tests to do."

They day finished quickly, with Iida beating them all – even Momo who had a _bike_ – on the marathon running. The rest of the tests only confirmed what they already had established; the pecking order. "It would be a waste of time to explain how everything was calculated, since it was only your performances recorded. Let's just get to the final rankings." Aizawa muttered, before he clicked a button on his device and a holographic screen popped up.

In first place was a no-brainer. Momo Yaoyorozu had proved not only her ingenuity but the sheer versatility of her Quirk by placing at or near the top in nearly every test. Several of her tests such as the grip test and the ball throwing test were such outliers that her placement was a foregone conclusion.

Inasa and Izuku were next, being so closely matched after all of their training together and with All Might that they came in a virtual tie for second place. They both performed extremely well on all tests, never falling below fifth place (except for the grip strength test, in Izuku's case).

Todoroki was next in fourth place, with Katsuki finishing off the top five in a complete and utter rage. ' _Fifth? FUCKING FIFTH?! Forget first place, I didn't even get second?! FUCKING DEKU BEAT ME!?_ ' The explosive teen was boiling mad, and the only reason he didn't let off some steam was that he was sure Aizawa would punish him for it.

Iida came next much to his extreme disappointment, followed by Tokoyami, Shōji, Kirishima and Uraraka finishing off the top ten for the class. Mina was quite irritated about having been pushed to eleventh place and was sandwiched in between Uraraka and Camie. Kaminari. Tsuyu, and Kōji were the next ones on the list, and the remaining five were starting to sweat heavily. Sero, Aoyama, and Jīrō let out the breaths they were holding, and that left only Tōru and Mineta biting their nails. Mineta let out a loud, heartfelt wail as his name appeared in last place. "NOOOOOOOO! HOW WILL I EVER GET TO TOUCH SOME OPPAI NOW?!"

"Toad."

"Lech."

"You're disgusting."

"Totally lit if you think you're ever going to get any."

Each disgusted comment from Momo, Mina, Jīrō, and Camie in order shot a little arrow into the Grape boy, further depressing him.

"Oh, by the way, I was lying about expelling someone." Aizawa said in a tone that bellied a small amount of amusement. Half the class froze and turned dead gazes at him, snot hanging from their nostrils. He grinned broadly, "It was just a rational deception to get you to perform your best!"

"WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT?!"

"I'm saved!" Mineta sobbed out, so grateful he didn't even have it in him to be perverted.

Momo couldn't help the tiny little scoff that escaped from her, "Well of course it was. It should have been obvious if you just thought it through…" She mumbled to herself, "Maybe I should have said something?" She mused to herself.

' _No… you're wrong there, Yaoyorozu-san._ ' Izuku swallowed as he once again used a small amount of telepathy, ' _He's lying. He's definitely lying._ '

"Anyway, we're done here." Aizawa told them as he turned to walk away, "Your documents about the curriculum will be back in homeroom. Make sure you review them closely. And don't lose them either. I won't be making copies."

Izuku grit his teeth and stepped forward, "Aizawa-sensei!" he called out. Aizawa turned at quirked an eyebrow at him. "I thought you said we were here to be Heroes! That there wasn't going to be any time to fool around and that U.A. was going to throw everything including the kitchen sink at us!"

"I did. What's your point?" Aizawa gazed at him dispassionately while everyone looked at the boy in confusion.

"So why are you coddling us now?!" He shot at the Erasure Hero, "We can handle the truth!"

"Deku-kun, what are you doing?" Uraraka asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder. For the moment, he ignored her.

Aizawa stared him down and Izuku didn't flinch. Finally, Aizawa closed his eyes and flashed a smile, "Alright then, Midoriya. Have it your way." He opened his eyes and rooted Mineta and Tōru's floating clothes with a heavy glare. Both students flinched and stiffened up in terror, "I was NOT lying about someone being expelled. In my time here, I've expelled a hundred and fifty-four students. Last semester I expelled my entire class in just under two weeks." Momo's eyes went wide and she took a half step back, covering her lips with her hand, "Understand this, the only reason you two are not going home today is that I see a meager amount of potential in you. If I thought you had no prospects at all, I would have cut you loose immediately. There is nothing crueler than letting someone chase around a half-baked dream." The entire class was shivering under his words, which doubled when he addressed them all, "And that goes for each and every one of you. If I feel you're slacking off and not being serious about your position here, I won't hesitate to kick you out."

He turned to Mineta, "You need to keep working on overcoming your stature, Mineta. Your Quirk certainly has its uses, but you can't be a one-trick-pony." He then faced Tōru, "As for you… your Quirk is similar to mine in that it has no direct benefits in combat such as physical enhancement. However, you haven't worked in the slightest to overcome your body's limitations. The only reason you didn't come in last today is because you have a naturally more athletic body than Mineta. If you _had_ come in last, even your useful Quirk wouldn't have saved you. Like Mineta, I see potential in you, but you have to _work_ at it. I better see you hitting the weight room and the track regularly. If Utsushimi can do it, you can too." He couldn't see it, but she was nodding rapidly, too terrified to speak.

He stared all of them down, and they all trembled before him, "Any questions?"

"N-no sensei!" The droning from his students sounded at him.

"Good. Have a good day and be prepared for tomorrow. If you thought today was hard, you won't be ready in the slightest for tomorrow's trials." He whirled around and walked away without a look back.

Several people had lost feeling in their legs and slumped to the floor, hearts racing and adrenaline pumping, "I-I was so sure." Momo mumbled as Izuku and Uraraka helped her up.

Except for a few who weren't affected by the speech and left quickly, it was a much-subdued group that finally made it back to 1-A.

 **-]|[-**

 **So, how did everyone like the two surprises in this chapter? Sorry to the Mashirao Ojiro and Rikido Sato fans, but they were definitely the most forgettable characters in 1-A in my book. And when you have an Invisible Girl who loves going missing all the time, that's kinda saying something. I just didn't really feel anything for them, one way or another. I was indifferent to them as characters, and in Sato's case I really disliked his Quirk. THAT in combination with the fact that I FREAKING LOVE THESE TWO meant one thing only. Bwahaha**

 **Camie has been… a little difficult to write, but pretty fun nonetheless. She (in the scantalations at least) has an odd combination of normal speak and… well… 1337 I guess. I'm trying to find a balance in her speech mannerisms. Since we haven't had enough of her really, I'm also looking a bit to Overwatch's for her speaking style.**

 **As for her physical capabilities: I've already made my stance on this pretty clear. I believe it's possible to break normal human limits in this universe, and SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS Toga-chan wouldn't have chosen to impersonate a character who would have weak physical strength if she was planning on doing things like backflipping up a hill, moving fast enough to scratch Deku, and dodging Uraraka's attack. She would have been caught immediately. END SPOILERS**

 **As for Inasa… what's NOT to love about this guy?! We need more, and more we shall have!**

 **So, how did you all like the Exams and Quirk tests? What did you all think about Izuku's fighting style as well as the modifications I made to some of the 1-A Quirks?**

 **You'll notice Katsuki did** _ **quite**_ **a bit better than he did in canon. About 40 percent better, as a matter of fact. What, did you think our lovable King Explosion Murder WOULDN'T have a fire lit under his ass after Izuku not only fought back but drew first blood in their renewed rivalry? I hope no one came in here expecting bashing, because it's not going to happen.**

 **No one really sounded off on making some modifications to the Quirks, so I went ahead and leapt. I hope I did well explaining the differences. I haven't one-hundred-percent finished describing all of the changes since this chapter was already getting long enough, but next chapter will have a** _ **tiny**_ **bit more. I already got all the big ones out of the way. Just in case I did a bad job with any of them, I'll list them here;**

 **Iida – Mutant Quirk changed to Transformation Quirk. Can grow his engine pipes out of his legs, arms, and back. His Quirk is** _ **Engine,**_ **so it makes sense for him to be able to use different kinds of engines, just like Tsuyu can use abilities from different kinds of frogs.**

 **Uraraka – Does not have to touch herself to use it on herself, though she still has to touch everything else. Can change gravity rather than just turn it off. Increased nausea incurment when used on herself.**

 **Momo – provided she doesn't let go of what she creates, she can use and alter it further. Requires more concentration to do so.**

 **Jīrō – mostly canon except she's not limited to just her heartbeat. She can change frequencies and produce simple sounds. For example, she can produce morse code.**

 **Kaminari – He got the biggest change. I still wanted to keep his theme but wanted to change the uses and downsides. Basically, my inspiration here is Cole MacGrath from InFamous, right down to his fantastic drowning skills.**

 **Bakugo – initially I didn't think I needed to change him, but apparently, he can only use his Quirk on his palms. Well that doesn't make sense. He's literally just making his sweat explode. He can therefore use it on his feet as well.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed! See you next chapter!**

 **Right, so I actually have two more ideas that never seem to want to leave me alone and just keeps jumping fandoms whenever I find new interests.**

 **Idea One is a partial crossover with Marvel. For centuries, there has been a shrine in Japan with an unmovable hammer. Modern equipment just broke when trying to move it, and even excavation didn't work. It's become something of a fun tradition to make the trip and try to lift the hammer. Izuku and Inko go with Katsuki and his parents. Each try to lift it – including exceedingly cocky child Kacchan – and all fail. And then Izuku gets closer and the skies start to darken. He goes up the steps and thunder starts rumbling. He closes in on the shaft and Norse symbols start appearing on the previously plain surface. And then he touches it and the entire area is engulfed with a massive lightning bolt. And in his head, he hears the words, '** _ **Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy… shall possess the power of Thor.**_ **' (This would be Stormbreaker not Mjolnir. The idea was that Thor cast it away with the last of his strength as he neared death. There was also some vague ideas about the MHA universe being the next cycle after the MCU universe.) Amusingly enough, I actually had this idea for One Piece before I had it for MHA.**

 **Idea two was fairly basic crossover with not much to it yet but for the premise: Canon Izuku aged up a bit (after becoming the Symbol of Peace) gets sent to another universe by a villain who knows he could never win conventionally. Said universe: High School DxD.**


	3. The Meaning of Plus Ultra

**I want to discuss some things before we get to the chapter. First, what a massive response this story got! Love you guys! Glad to see everyone thought it had as much potential as I hoped.**

 **One of the popular discussion points for MHA is the whole traitor business, especially the popular theory that Hagakure is the traitor. (Possible spoilers for anime-only) Personally, I not only don't subscribe to the theory, but also believe that the whole thing is a red herring. All For One was their enemy. It's totally possible that he A) Has a spying Quirk, B) has someone under his control. Admittedly it has been a while since I read the manga, but I can't actually recall any more traitor moments after All For One was arrested. This story is being written with that assumption, and should a traitor actually be revealed in the future, it likely will be split off from this story and ignored.**

 **Now… One For All! HOLY SHIT!** **If you guys are anime-only, YOU ARE AGAIN IN DANGER** **! Trying to be as…vague as possible, I can't believe what was shown and now feel TOTALLY correct in my decision to not give Izuku the torch. I can also confirm that it will NOT be Mirio. It would be utterly amazing… but that's not for this story. I'm officially committing to my choice, and I'm going to have a blast with it. (Don't read anything into that, because you're wrong. :p)**

 **I was also glad to see that Inasa and Camie (as well as the Quirk changes) were (mostly) well received. A couple of you didn't like Camie as much and requested that I tone down the lolspeech, so I'll try. She didn't exactly have too much canon material to work with (seeing as how… you know… her first appearance wasn't actually** ** _her_** **and her subsequent appearances were really short), so it is a bit difficult.**

 **Sorry for leaving it hanging for so long. I've been hopping around fandoms so often all I've been doing is planning for like the last six months. Every time I tried to actually** ** _write_** **I just fizzled out. This months-long rut has been utterly infuriating, and hopefully behind me! Now, I do have a new job now which has pretty much completely changed my hours. I don't have as much time to write as I used to, though I will obviously try to power through that.**

 **If you guys need help envisioning Izuku's costume, I based it off the "Adam Warlock MCU concept." All you need to do is google that and its literally the first image. I just themed it to Izuku. The helmet vaguely resembles the gladiator helmet Thor wore in Ragnarӧk, except more futuristic.**

 **Also, please note that I am going to start crossposting this (and other stories, eventually) to AO3 for various reasons. Pen Name is Primordial_Vortex there.**

 **-]|[-**

 **Chapter III: The Meaning of Plus Ultra**

 **-]|[-**

Izuku yawned once more as he walked into the cafeteria. Last night had been tiring, in more ways than one. He'd gone for another workout with Inasa after they'd been dismissed by Aizawa-sensei, and they'd exhausted themselves pushing hard. The warning from their teacher and the utter fear he put into the lower-ranked members of the class had once more lit a fire under them. And even with his exhaustion, he hadn't quite been able to sleep well, far too wired with new Quirks to analyze. And of course, his alarm had woken him at the crack of dawn for his jog and his light Quirk training.

… In hindsight, he possibly _should_ have skipped it today, seeing as how Aizawa had warned them about more trials today. Then again… Plus Ultra, right?

"Oiiiii!" Inasa waved him over after he'd collected his tray with his breakfast. After some fanboying over meeting Lunch Rush – the Cooking Hero – he'd tried to find a seat. Obviously, his friend found him first, "Morning, my man!" His boisterous buddy greeted, looking none the worse for their late workout the evening before.

"M-morning!" Izuku finished yawning again, "You're too energetic."

"Oh, good morning, Midoriya-san." Yaoyorozu – the girl in his class with the Creation Quirk – greeted him from across the table, "Are you alright? You look really tired."

Izuku blinked. How in the hell had he missed her? Wait, how the hell had he missed the entire group at the table? Next to Momo was Mina, and next to Inasa was Ochaco. Kyōka, Tsuyu, Camie, Tenya, Eijirō, and Denki were also with them, though each were indulging in their own conversations. He sat between Inasa and Kyōka, "M-morning everyone!" he gave out his own greeting, stuttering a little. ' _Seriously, am I that tired that I missed them? More importantly, how in the world did such a large group form so fast!?'_ He hastened to answer her question once he finished thinking, "And I'm okay, Yaoyorozu-san. I'm just really tired."

"Don't tell me you did the usual this morning?" Inasa nudged him with a grin.

Izuku blushed a bit but nodded, "P-Plus Ultra, yeah?"

"What's the usual, Midori?" Mina jumped in eagerly, wanting to get to know her classmates more.

"Uhhhm…" Izuku blushed a bit, "W-well, I do a five-kilometer jog to a beach near my house. While there I do calisthenics and practice with my Quirk. Then some more exercises before jogging back home." Silence. Several of them looked at him with wide eyes. He started to blush a bit heavier, and started poking his fingers together, "I kinda miscalculated though. I didn't get enough sleep the previous night. Too wired, you know?"

"Bravo!" Iida's deep voice made him jump, "Bravo, Midoriya-kun! How wonderful to see a fellow hero-in-training working hard!"

"Yeah, it's pretty cool!" Mina cheered, grinning broadly, "You're getting me fired up, Midori!"

Izuku kept blushing, "A-Ashido-san…"

"Uh, uh, uh!" she wagged her finger side to side, "My name is Mina! Miiinaaa~! You should use it, cutie!"

"C-c-c!" Izuku started to stammer, his earlier blush turning up to eleven, his freckles standing out starkly as his brain seemed to overheat.

Jīrō laughed, "Looks like you broke him, Mina! You can call me Kyōka or Jīrō-chan. I don't really mind." Her earlobes were shaped like headphone jacks and they moved around rapidly, seemingly having a mind of their own.

Inasa laughed loudly, "Don't worry! He'll break out of his shell eventually! He was a stuttering mess before he met me!"

"I-Inasa!" Izuku cried out, ' _Traitor!_ ' Not like it wasn't _obvious_ _anyway_.

"Still," Momo put her hand on her face in worry, as more than one of the other girls wondered how Izuku could have been worse than he seemed now. "We shouldn't make him uncomfortable."

"Nah, this is the best for him, yeah?" Eijirō punched his fists together, "We all should be friends, right? Its acclimatization! You all can call me Kirishima or Kiri! I prefer it!"

"Y-you guys!" Izuku almost teared up at the idea of gaining so many friends all at once. He valiantly held it down though.

"I am a bit confused though, Midoriya-chan." Tsuyu – the frog-like girl – said with her finger resting below her lip, "With your Quirk being psychic powers, why are you doing heavy workouts? Isn't that pulling you in two directions? Kero." She asked, "Oh, and you can call me Tsu!" She smiled at him.

"Ah!" Finally, some normalcy. This he could handle, "Well, a Hero should never be a one-trick pony, right? What if I run into a situation where my Quirk can't help? Or I strain myself so hard that I get Quirk Exhaustion? Heroes should always have a fallback!"

"S-so!" Tears started to pour from Kirishima's eyes, "SO MANLY!"

Izuku smiled, "Plus, I actually enjoy it, and it even helps me with my Quirk. It doesn't make my Quirk itself any stronger, but it's _so_ much easier to move and attack when you actually know what you're doing and not just throwing yourself around with your power. That's-"

"A recipe for disaster." Momo had a smile on her face, "I think you're motivating me, Midoriya-san! Perhaps I should step up my own training too!"

"Oh yeah!" Inasa pumped a fist in glee, "You all should totally join us! Izuku and I work out every day now that I live close to him. It used to be that we could only hang out on weekends. We should totally make a group of it!"

Mina and Momo started to positively _sparkle_ , though for entirely different reasons. Mina was a social animal and loved being in groups with friends. Momo on the other hand, had lived a bit isolated due to her upbringing and relished the thought of finally being with others her age. Plus, this was an opportunity to get to know her peers and even form study groups! "Yahoo! I'm totally in!" Mina grinned broadly.

"I agree!" Momo backed her up, "But why limit it just to working out? We could-"

"Woah!" Mineta – the really short grape – interrupted her, "Are you guys forming a workout group?" He was practically salivating, "All those yoga pants and sports bras! Count me in!" His fingers were wriggling creepily.

"That's too creepy." Mina and Ochaco deadpanned at the same time, Mina's earlier sparkles disappearing instantly.

Camie looked like she had smelled something foul, "Nasty AF. Totally not invited!" She made a shooing motion.

Tsuyu just tongue-smacked him. His head rebounded like a bobble-head. It even made the noise.

"Ahem!" Momo cleared her throat as Mineta walked away dejectedly, "Before I was so rudely interrupted… Ah yes! Why just make it limited to just workouts?"

"Yeah!" Mina cheered, thinking she knew where Momo was going. She didn't.

"We could also form a study group after school to do homework and prepare for classes!" Momo got all bouncy.

' _S-so cute!_ ' Practically everyone at the table thought, even as more than a few winced at the idea.

Kaminari took it a step further, actually deflating at her words, "Man, I'm kinda awful at the academic stuff though…"

"We have a lot of it too." Kirishima sighed, pulling out his schedule, "Looks like all of our morning classes will be boring. All the actual hero stuff is after lunch."

Ochaco rubbed her head and chuckled nervously, "I usually do pretty okay as long as I'm not nervous… but when I am… ehehe."

"Ahh, don't sweat it!" Mina laughed, hands behind her head, "We're training to be heroes! It's not like that stuff is that important, right? Who needs the same old lecture on the glowing baby for the nth time?"

Iida gasped, "Ashido-kun, how could you say that?!" He started chopping his hand in her direction, "It was a vital part of history! It is our duty as splendid heroes-to-be to learn where we came from!"

"Ac-actually, mi-Mina!" ' _I did it!_ ' Izuku cheered in his head, getting a big grin from the beautiful pink girl, "I don't think you're right! With how strict Aizawa-sensei seems to be, I can imagine them dropping harsh punishments on us if our grades drop too much."

"That's like, totally right!" Camie exclaimed. She was about middle of the pack on academics. She knew she could do better but when she wasn't training, she was gaming, "We like, totes don't know our teachers at all. What if they're all like, super strict like Aizawa-sensei? It'll be GG." The gamers in the group understood the last bit, but the others just looked clueless. The conversation kept moving too, so they didn't really get the chance to ask.

Tsuyu again had her finger below her lip, "I can imagine us being barred from class activities like trips, if there are any. Kero kero."

Mina wrapped her arms around herself, "Brrr… suddenly I feel kinda cold."

"You're not the only one!" Kaminari had his hands on his head, "I tend to get distracted too easily!"

Inasa laughed, "All the more reason for the study group then! My man here goes all out! He helped me a bunch!"

Mina groaned, "But it's so boring!" She whined, slumping a bit.

Momo patted her on the shoulder, "Think of it like this… if you do a little bit of it every day, you won't have to cram and drive yourself spare before tests. I can imagine Aizawa-sensei at least will enjoy dropping pop quizzes on us often."

If anything, Mina slumped even more because she knew they were right. "Yeah, you're right. Fine!" She puffed up a bit, and her pouting was _adorable_ , at least to Izuku, who flushed, looking away quickly.

She smacked a hand on the table, making several of them jump, "But I demand we do fun stuff too! Too much training and studying will just burn us out! What are your hobbies? I love to dance! I could teach you guys!"

"She's wild too!" Kirishima grinned, "It looks pretty fun. Not sure I'm limber enough for it though."

"That sounds really fun, Ashi-" he shook himself, "M-Mina-san!"

Mina _beamed_ at him, causing him to blush again, "Looks like I got Midori's approval! Sweet!"

Kyōka started twirling her earlobe with a blush on her face, although nowhere near as obvious as the one Izuku was sporting. "I… uh… I can play instruments, if anyone is interested. Mostly the bass and guitar, though." She just barely held back a cringe. Why did she have to open her big mouth? _Damn it, Mina!_

"Woaaah! That's so cool!" Mina was again sparkling in excitement.

"Totes cool! You go gal!" Camie grinned at her, "That would be lit! I'd love to learn the sax!"

Kyōka was blushing brightly at the praise. She totally hadn't been expecting it, with how unrelated to heroism it was.

Ochaco started poking her fingers together, "I was always interested but…" her voice got lower and lower until they couldn't even hear her.

Izuku blinked over at her, "You okay?"

Momo reached over and patted the gravity girl on the arm, "You can tell us. No one will judge." She promised in a gentle tone.

Ochaco sighed, "My family… was never that well off." She admitted, shrinking down slightly as she admitted the next bit, "That's actually why I want to be a hero. I want to give my parents the easy life and retirement they deserve."

"What an honorable wish!" Iida exclaimed, almost standing up! He chopped forward, "Your parents are lucky to have you, Uraraka-kun!" He placed his hand on his chest, "I wish to join my elder brother as a splendid hero!" He almost slapped his hand over his mouth, his mouth having engaged before his brain.

"Elder-" Izuku gasped, "Wow, how did I not realize it before? You're related to Ingenium, aren't you?"

"Wow!" Everyone gasped, chattering excitedly.

"My brother Tensei loves helping and saving people! I admire him a great deal, as the second son." Iida smiled lightly when he heard the lack of judging from his peers, "I must admit I had not wished to relay that information. It just slipped out before I thought about what I was saying. In the past, many have gotten a bit nasty with me when I revealed I was from an established Hero Family. It's a relief to see such stigma won't be an issue here! I set my sights on being a Hero, so I could be like him!" He turned, "What about you, Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku didn't reply at first, leaning back. Slowly, a smile grew on his face, and a matching one on Inasa's. Finally, he spoke, "My entire life, I've admired All Might. He's my idol, just like your elder brother, Iida-kun. I want to follow in his footsteps!"

"Woah, so you want to be number one, huh?" Kirishima grinned, "That's so manly, dude!" He clapped Izuku on the shoulder.

"No." Izuku shook his head gently, confusing most of them, "I thought that was it for a long time, but I know better now. I don't care at all about the _ranking_." He clenched a fist in front of him and a blinding grin rose on his face, "The Symbol of Peace." An electric current seemed to run through them as they stared at their classmate, straightening their spines and sitting taller, "One day, I want to be able to say, " **I am here!** " and have the people know they're safe!"

Kirishima burst into tears, "I… I feel myself getting manlier just from your presence!"

"Bwahaha! Now you know how I feel! My man sure has a _way_ , doesn't he?!" Inasa continued to laugh.

"Yes…" Several of the girls were blushing lightly as they... stared at the verdette. The sheer intensity of his drive was enthralling, and the way it made his face look... well, many of the girls were wondering suddenly what it would be like to be the object of that kind of intensity.

But before anything else could happen, the first bell rang. It was time for classes.

 **-]|[-**

' _So normal…_ ' Wasn't a thought any of class 1-A figured they would be having at U.A. High of all places. Especially after the nightmare revelation Aizawa had dropped on them the previous day. Yet the thought came all the same as they stared at the blackboard Present Mic – real name Hizashi Yamada – was writing on. Izuku and Momo had been the most prolific in this class, easily answering many of the questions the other students weren't able to get. Much to the class's surprise, Katsuki joined them in easily answering English questions. Yet no one really generated much in the way of _enthusiasm_ , despite all of their teacher's best efforts. Poor Mina had to keep getting poked just to keep her awake. As dedicated as she was to her goal of being a hero, she would never enjoy things like these. It didn't really matter how useful it was – and really it _was_ beyond useful for any Hero even considering crossing borders and international waters – because it was just so mind-numbingly _boring._

Most of them were dreading mornings at U.A. if this was how things were going to go. Normal classes like mathematics and English dominated the early mornings, and by the start of lunch even the most intelligent ones like Momo and Izuku just wanted to get to their lunch breaks. "Jeez, math with Ectoplasm was bruuuutal!" Mina groaned at lunch.

"They've got no chill!" Camie was her sister in misery, "So much homework. Like, chill out, fam."

"It wasn't that difficult," Momo blushed slightly as several glares turned on her, "I'll make sure to help you all out during our group sessions!" The glares vanished, replaced by adoring puppy-dog eyes. "Still, even if it wasn't difficult, I'm welcoming the break. I was getting pretty hungry." Several of her classmates then noticed her practically-overflowing tray of food with no small amount of shock. The smarter ones realized that it was probably due to her Quirk and just shrugged, turning their focus back to their own meals. Once more, Lunch Rush quickly and efficiently served everyone's favorite foods. There were also other venues to choose from, depending on what kinds of foods they wanted, though for some of them they had to actually pay. It was all equally delicious, so really it just came down to preference and money. They restarted their talks from breakfast and continued to get to know each other better.

But all of them were glancing at the clock, and once time started ticking closer to the afternoon practically all of them were vibrating in excitement. The poor mood that had engulfed many of them was gone, and all of them were looking forward to the next class. They eagerly watched the door once they were back in class, waiting for their teacher to arrive. All of them were insanely curious as to who their Fundamental Heroics teacher would be, except for two of them. They just shared secret grins, trying to quirk their ears and listen for who they knew would be coming.

 _None_ of them were disappointed.

" **I AM HERE…** " Everyone's heads perked, and wide grins split their faces as the moment they _all_ had been waiting for arrived, " **COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!** " Never let it be said that All Might was not a large ham.

"We have All Might as a teacher?!" The class erupted in excitement as All Might walked in, resplendent in his Silver Age costume. The top was predominantly red with white designs, with a blue bottom. He wore golden sleeves and boots with a flowing blue cape. The whole outfit was skintight, showing off his insanely-muscular physique.

"Woah, his style is so different!" Mina was grinning broadly with her shaking fists held tight to her chest. "I swear I'm hearing a theme song right now!"

"You're not the only one." Kyōka smirked, just as excited even if she tried to look more laid back than her excitable friend.

All Might proceeded to chew the scenery right up as he _heroically_ made his way to the podium and put his fists on his hips, " **I will be teaching Fundamental Heroics! In this subject, we will be putting all of you through your paces so that you can learn the basics of being a Hero. We'll be here quite often. This class and its subsequent advanced versions will have the most units per semester.** " He seemed to flex, and somehow managed to make a card appear in his hand, " **So let's get right into it!** **Your first class shall be… Combat Training!** " The card had the word 'Battle' written on it.

"Combat?!" Katsuki was grinning broadly, beyond excited. With this, he could wipe yesterday's shame away far faster than he had expected to.

" **And for that you need these!** " All Might clicked a button and several panels popped out of the wall to the far side of the room. Each of them had five containers labeled from one to twenty.  
" **In accordance with the Quirk Registry as well as your own written requests... here are your…** "

"COSTUMES!" The class shouted in glee. They couldn't wait to see how all of them had turned out.

" **That's right!** " Their teacher yelled and stood proudly, " **After you change, meet at Ground Beta!** "

…

He stood alone now, fists again on his hips as he waited for his students to start coming through the tunnel into Ground Beta. His grin widened as he started picking up on faint footsteps, before the first of them broke into the light. " **They say the costume makes the hero, young ladies and gentlemen.** " He eyed each of them and liked what he saw with most of the costumes, " **Be proud. From this moment on, you are HEROES! That's great everyone. You all look cool!** " He leaned forward a little, " **Shall we begin, zygotes?** "

Behind the rest of the class, Izuku was the last one running out of the tunnel. He had gotten a little lost in a memory when he first put on his costume.

 _It was the night before his first day at U.A., and they had just finished dinner – his favorite katsudon as a reward for accomplishing his dream of getting into U.A. High – when his mom had pulled him aside with a brilliant smile on her face, "Izuku, I have a surprise for you! Go into the living room!"_

'I wonder what mom wants? _' He thought to himself as he sat on the sofa and watched as she disappeared into her bedroom. His eyes widened when she came out and was quite clearly struggling with a large, all-metal suitcase. It was almost as tall as she was and whoever designed the case hadn't thought to put wheels on it. "Mom!" He cried out when she grunted with effort and reached out with his Telekinesis._

 _She gave off a sigh of relief as the weight was no longer hers to bare and pouted, "Geez, your mom is too out of shape. Here I am giving you a gift and you're the one lugging it around for me." She walked over and regained her cheer, "I hope you like it honey!" She kneeled down and wrapped him in a hug, "I'm so sorry sweetie." Her voice warbled, "Back when all you needed from me was support…" Her voice broke and Izuku hurried to tighten his hug in reassurement, rubbing her back gently. She choked back another sob, "I was so disheartened when they claimed you were Quirkless… I just gave up in my anguish… Even though you needed me, I was too lost in my own hopelessness. I'm so sorry honey!"_

" _Mom…" Izuku breathed out, tears of his own starting to prickle at his eyes._

" _But you never quit, Izuku. You always kept chasing your dreams and look at you now! The top entrant of the year! I'm so, so proud of you baby!" She sniffed and pulled away, a brilliant, beaming, watery smile on her face, "I want you to know I'll always be in your corner. One hundred percent! I'll be cheering you on with everything I've got!" She got up and rubbed her eyes, before patting the large suitcase, "Ever since you showed up that day with Mr. Yagi and told me that you had finally unlocked your Quirk, I've been saving up for this." Her smile turned a little sheepish, "I even snuck some peaks at your Hero Journal for ideas, and asked Mr. Yagi for some advice. I hope you like it!"_

 _Izuku threw his arms around her neck as he stood, "You didn't have to, mom." He sounded a little choked up. "No matter what it is, you poured your heart into it. How could I do anything but love it?"_

" _Izuku!" She gave him one final squeeze and then stepped away, practically bouncing up and down in excitement, "Well, what are you waiting for?"_

 _Izuku unclipped the case's locks and opened it up like a double-doored closet. "H-holy crap!" The brilliant grin on his face brought his mom such joy she nearly fell over in happiness._

"Woah! Deku-kun, you look amazing!" The gleeful cry from Ochaco drew all of their attention, and several more exclamations rang out.

"Wow, Midori looks AWESOME~!" Mina's voice rang out as she started excitedly running around him and checking him out from every angle.

"Quite cool. I like it a lot." Momo smiled at him, getting another luminescent blush from the shy boy.

"Jeez, looking at him makes my costume look like a crappy cosplay. I'm a bit intimidated." Kaminari complained in good humor. He was wearing clothes that wouldn't have looked out of place at a rock concert. They looked like regular clothes.

' _Why the fuck is_ HIS _intimidating?_ ' One guess only for the one who had that thought.

Izuku's full costume looked to be in a similar style to the one All Might was wearing. It was a full bodysuit and had a cape, but that was where the similarities ended. Rather than being something resembling spandex like the great hero's costume, it looked more like a combat bodysuit that wouldn't have been out of place in one of those really old space-themed video games from the previous century like Crysis or Mass Effect. It was primarily black, but there were some silver accents woven in through the suit. The gloves and boots were bright green, as was the cape and the shoulders, running down to his arms. A bright green bird of prey was emblazoned on his chest. An emerald sash rested on his hips, no doubt for him to create his Psyblade with. And despite looking armored, it was no less skin-tight than All Might's and showed off all of his hard work from the past couple months, which was drawing appreciative glances from all of the girls. He also had a vaguely gladiator-like helmet on his head which seemed to be equipped with a HUD, with large 'wings' that were capable of swiveling pointed up towards the sky. His only regret was there wasn't any red in it, since his mom thought it clashed and looked a bit too tacky.

All Might bit back a snicker, ' _ **Despite the badass look, I'm pretty sure the helmet is a bit too obvious, shonen.**_ '

Izuku was eying Uraraka with a massive blush. Her suit had ended up being skintight, and unlike him she didn't have anything else helping her cover up. Every single curve was accentuated. She was also blushing sheepishly under his gaze, "I should have been more specific. I just wanted a way to put pressure on my pressure points to help me with my nausea when using my quirk. They sent a skintight bodysuit. Maybe I should send it back?" She had her visor flipped up and was rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"No way!" Camie came up behind her and Ochaco practically jumped into the air as she felt the equally curvy girl's arms embrace her, "You totally look hot, Ochaco-chan! I love your suit!"

"U-Utsushimi-san?!" Ochaco yelped, turning around only for her eyes to bug out when she saw the girl's skin-tight leather outfit with the front slightly unzipped and showing off her cleavage. She was quite clearly braless too. "Oh my g-"

"That thing looks awesome, Midori!" Mina hopped up to them, interrupting Ochaco, "Did you design it yourself?"

"K-kinda?" Izuku answered, trying to keep his eyes from wandering. Mina was leaning forward, and her purple and turquoise bodysuit was cut off at the chest and showed quite a bit of her developing cleavage. "I had a basic sketch in my notebook which my mom saw. She spent the last year working with a support company to have it developed." He smiled at the thought, ' _She even made sure to request that the underlayer be made of as-fireproof a material as they could find. She's always looking out for me._ ' He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "It's a bit heavier than we had planned, but that just makes it good strength training. Plus, I can make it lighter with my psychic powers if I'm in a pinch."

"I see we share that idea in our designs." Iida motioned with his hands. He was wearing a breaking suit of armor, complete with a full helmet that hid his face, "I too wear a heavy costume, though I have grown accustomed to its weight."

"Looks awesome too!" Inasa clapped him on the shoulder energetically. He was wearing a thick, maroon suit with golden buttons. The collar of his suit was decorated with white fur and his cape flowed down to his feet. His right arm was clad in a simple blue sleeve while his left had a tan gauntlet on it. All over his suit were pipes placed at strategic locations to aid him with his wind control. His knees and left shoulder had a white gas-mask-shaped plate attached. On his head was a maroon, Shiketsu-style hat with the U.A. badge over it. Apparently U.A. had wanted to sell them to students but had some legal troubles with their rival school over making it an official part of the uniform. Ignoring the legal issues, Inasa had bought one himself and modified it to his liking, finishing off the look with a pair of goggles, which he currently wasn't wearing. "Really badass! You look great!"

" **Alright my young heroes, it is time to get started.** " All Might interrupted the socializing since he himself couldn't stay in his Hero Form past his time limit.

Iida raised his hand, "Sensei, this is the same site we used for our entrance exams. Will we be doing cityscape maneuvers again?"

" **Incorrect!** " All Might pointed at Iida, " **What we will be doing is indoor, anti-personnel combat training.** " He pointed up instead now, " **You see, despite the fact that what we usually see from villains are outdoor crimes, the most heinous villains are much smarter than that. Backroom deals, the black market, hostage situations, the list goes on. In this Hero Society of ours, the most dangerous villains are the ones who use their brains and try to outwit us. They almost always operate indoors, away from prying eyes like ours.** "

He clenched his fist in front of his chest, " **With that in mind, you all will be split evenly into groups of two! Each team will have either a Hero or Villain designation, and you will be fighting against another team!** "

Tsuyu quirked her head to the side, "So no basic training?"

" **Practical experience will teach you that!** " he declared, " **The distinction here is that you won't be fighting disposable robots!** "

Momo mimicked his pose with her fists on her hips, "What determines victory?" She wore a very risqué, high-collared, sleeveless crimson leotard that completely exposed the inner sides of her breasts all the way down to her navel with a thick yellow belt around her hips and part of her thighs. A red pair of boots rounded off the look. The look was so hot it had practically caused Mineta's nose to explode from the blood, and Izuku couldn't actually bring himself to look at her, no matter how he tried it was just too stimulating.

Katsuki's Hero Costume consisted of a fitted, black, sleeveless V-neck tank top with an orange X bordering his collar. Around his neck was a metallic neck brace with three holes on both sides. His gauntlets resembled large 'pineapple' grenades. His belt – which also carried grenades – held up his baggy pants with knee guards. Underneath those guards are black, knee-high combat boots with orange soles and eyelets. He also wore a black eye-mask. It was such a perfectly-suited costume for the boy that Izuku couldn't help but goggle as Katsuki asked, "Can I just blow them away?"

"You're not going threaten expulsion like Aizawa-sensei did, right All Might?" Uraraka asked a little timidly.

Iida proceeded to shout, "How will we be dividing ourselves up?"

Aoyama – wearing a knightly suit of armor with red, flamboyant glasses and an astoundingly sparkly cape - nearly got glares from everyone else when he asked, "How fabulous is my cape?" His armor had evidently been altered to act much like his belt, as there were multiple points on it that looked like focusing lenses.

" **One at a time!** " All Might was almost feeling a little dizzy, " **My quirk isn't super-hearing you know!** " He shook himself and removed a sheet from his pocket, making Izuku sweatdrop over his mentor bringing cheat sheets to his own classes, " **Listen up! The Villain teams will be protecting a nuclear device that they intend on detonating. To win they merely need to allow time to expire while keeping the Heroes away from the weapon at all costs. Alternatively, they can capture or incapacitate the Heroes. And like in reality, the Heroes face an uphill battle. The Hero teams will be tasked with incapacitating both Villains and securing the device."**

He looked up to make certain they were all listening, giving his next words added weight. " **The bomb is the priority however, so you can bypass the Villains and go directly for the weapon. However, doing so will cost some points, because that means the Villains are still at large and capable of hurting people or coming up with more dastardly plots. There is a strict time limit of fifteen minutes per battle, and it is the Heroes who are racing the clock. To keep things from being boring, every battle will be in a different location so everyone is going in fresh. If you're not up first, don't bother trying to memorize the layout.** "

He took out a box with a hole on top and presented it to them, " **Your teammates will be decided through… lots!** "

"Is that really the best way?" Iida questioned him in confusion.

It was Izuku who answered though, "Actually, it makes a lot of sense. In the field we will sometimes have to pair up with other Heroes who we potentially know nothing about. Anything can happen during emergencies and pairing up with Heroes from different Agencies happens all the time."

"I see! Excellent analysis Midoriya. Forgive my impertinence!" Iida bowed to All Might, who shrugged him off.

" **No worries, Iida-shonen. Let's get to it!** " He turned and pumped a fist into the air. One by one, the students walked up to the box and pulled a lot out. In a matter of moments, the teams had formed.

Izuku ended up being paired with Mina, much to her delight and Ochaco's disappointment. The gravity girl was paired with Iida. The next team was Momo and Kaminari. Following them was Tsu and Kyōka as well as Katsuki and Yūga Aoyama. Camie – and Izuku was seriously starting to wonder what was with all the beautiful girls in his class wearing such amazing costumes? – was paired with Hanta Sero and the Invisible Girl Tōru Hagakure with Kirishima.

Kōji Kōda got paired with Inasa who was nearly praying that he be matched up against Shōto Todoroki, who was partnered with Minoru Mineta. The final team was the tall Mezō Shōji with the bird-headed Fumikage Tokoyami.

"Yahoo!" Mina bounded up to him and slung an arm around his shoulder, making him flush and tremble at how close she was, "I get Midori! This is going to be sweet!"

"Ah!" Izuku managed to squeak out, "A-A-Ashido-san!" His face was on fire, ' _So close! And she smells so nice!_ ' He was trying very hard not to just completely freak.

"Awww!" Mina pouted, puffing her cheeks a bit, "What happened to Mina, Midori? Miiina~!"

"S-sorry Mina!" he squeaked, which got a beaming grin from the girl, even as he almost started to hyperventilate.

"Yahoo! Looks like we got some fun matchup possibilities!" Inasa clapped Kōda on the back, ignoring how the very quiet boy was sweating worse than Izuku was at the close proximity. He just rapidly nodded his head, completely mute. Inasa then smirked over at Izuku, "Good hunting, my man. Would be fun to go mano-e-mano again!"

Izuku escaped his Mina-induced paralysis a bit, raising a fist with a challenging grin towards his friend, "Bring it!"

Kaminari walked up to Momo with a grin, "I think I like this pairing. I can think of at least one way where we would work well together."

"Hmm, I think I know what you're planning." She smiled back, her mind already in overdrive. Of course, the sheltered, naïve girl didn't even notice Kaminari's actual meaning fly right over her head. The boy looked a little crushed, even if he tried to shrug it off and match her enthusiasm.

Before more socializing could occur, All Might grabbed their attentions once more, " **Yes, yes, I'm sure you're all excited for the matches to begin, so let's not waste any more time!** " The lots had been redistributed into the boxes, with five going into the Hero box and five into the Villain box. All Might reached in, and pulled out the first two spheres, " **And our first combatants are… Team C vs Team F! The Villains are Asui and Jīrō, up against the Hero team of Kirishima and Hagakure!** "

He gestured to Tsu and Kyōka, " **You ladies will be heading in first and preparing the bomb. You will have aid from the U.A. robots to move and place it quickly if you need it. There will be a ten-minute grace period for both teams to plan and prepare as needed. The fifteen-minute timer will begin to count down immediately once the Heroes are allowed to enter, so take care not to procrastinate!** "

All Might now grinned, fists on his hips, " **And most importantly, remember this is to give you all practical experience, so you must not hold back! The Villains should try to embrace a villainous mindset and pretend to be the real deal! You can't have any doubts and must give it your all! That said, remember that this is just training so take care not to go TOO far. I will only step in if I feel I need to. If I declare the exercise over at any point for any reason, it is OVER. Is that clear? And be mindful that the provided Capture Tape can only be used once! Use it wisely, because you only get one per team.** "

"Yes!" The four from the first group answered the teacher and then sped away towards their assigned testing zone.

" **The rest of us will watch through CCTV!** " All Might declared and ushered them all into a room with a massive bank of monitors, " **Do take notes and talk amongst yourselves as we watch. There will be after-action reports.** "

"Yes sir!" The rest of the class answered back.

Inasa walked over and clapped Izuku on the back. "What do you think of the pairings, my man?" The other students' attentions were drawn too, and most of their breakfast group came over as well.

"I think Kirishima and Hagakure-san are very lucky that they're the Heroes for this trial." Izuku admitted.

"I agree." Momo said softly, her hand rubbing her chin, "Kirishima – from what I remember of the Quirk Apprehension Test – is very much built for… err… what was the term…? Tanking?" She blushed slightly, having never been very big on video games. She hoped she remembered the right word. "In any case, he struck me as an up-front fighter. He would be at a massive advantage in a straight fight, but at least one of his opponents is mobile to a degree I'm not sure he's trained enough to match."

"That's what I was getting at." Izuku replied with a nod of his head, "If the teams had been swapped, I think this could have been a very lopsided match. Especially since we only need to touch the bomb, not actually disarm it or anything. Tsu could easily have just smacked it with her tongue. With the teams like this, they don't have that easy win. It's a matter of whether she can play keep-away with the bomb better than Kirishima can bulldoze to it."

"Hey, aren't you guys discounting Tōru-chan and Kyōka-chan?" Mina asked, slightly indignantly.

"Yeah!" Ochaco popped in, "She's invisible! She could easily sneak in and touch it!"

"Of course not!" Momo looked affronted, "But I think you're overvaluing her invisibility. Jīrō-san's extremely acute hearing may actually be powerful enough that she can just pick Hagakure-san up no matter how quietly she steps. Not only that, but her sonic attacks are something Kirishima-san cannot defend against."

Inasa piped in with his signature grin, "I think Kirishima and Hagakure's best chance is to just go in as loudly as they can. Give Kyōka so much to listen to that she can't pick up Hagakure. That's the only way Hagakure will be able to sneak to the bomb."

"Yeah, a quiet infiltration is the worst move they could make. They'd be playing right into the Villain's hands." Izuku nodded along.

" **Excellent analysis, you zygotes!** " All Might grinned, " **Let's see how right you are! Battle Trial I begin!** "

 **-]|[-**

A few minutes beforehand, Kirishima and Hagakure had been strategizing and sharing their ideas. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't really decide on a strict game-plan. Kirishima was overconfident in his ability to tank and simply overwhelm their physically weaker opponents and wanted to go in right through the front door. Tōru wanted to go in through one of the upper floors. And in the end, they made the decision to split up once it was announced.

Kirishima – as promised – ran right in and made a lot of noise while Tōru showed some vaguely impressive athleticism – far more than the rest of the class had honestly expected out of her, what with her poor ranking during the Quirk Apprehension Tests – by climbing up to the third floor and scampering in through the window after cutting a hole through the glass and unlocking the latch. How she hid said glasscutter with her, *ahem* lack of costume was a mystery best left unexplored.

The building was essentially a small storage facility with an attached set of offices. She stealthily moved through the facility, hoping that the noise she could hear from Kirishima – and she could hear a lot of it – was enough. She creaked a door open and peered inside, seeing that there were a lot of crates stacked up. Perhaps the bomb was behind them? She eased her way in, and immediately felt two little things jab into her and her whole body seized.

"What a shame, Hero! You fell right into our trap!" Kyōka stepped out from behind a set of crates, her earlobes extended with the jacks stabbed into the invisible girl. "We assumed at least one of you would want to drop in from the roof. I can hear your every move!"

Tōru backed up, trying to be silent and move away, but Kyōka pinpointed her as if she was just standing there naked, ironically. "But Kirishima is making so much noise! How could you hear me?"

"You think this is the first time someone tried to overwhelm my hearing?" She snarked, "Please, if every little explosion could send me to my knees, I would have been captured long ago!"

"Then I'll just have to do it myself, Villain!" Tōru ran forward, whipping out the capture tape and reaching for her opponent. It was the only way. She just had to pray she was physically stronger than Kyōka, because she was clearly trapped otherwise.

"Too bad!" Kyōka had an evil grin on her face, "So sad." Her jacks plugged into the speakers on her costume and a loud, warbling blast of sound engulfed Tōru. The girl let out a little scream as she grabbed her ears. Even her tummy was starting to feel weird. Kyōka ended her attack and dashed forward, whipping out her own capture tape. She wrapped it around Tōru and tightened it, trapping her arms to her chest.

All Might's voice rang on the intercoms, " **Hagakure has been captured and is out of the match! Please exit the arena!** "

Kyōka leaned over and grabbed Tōru's capture tape, "Better luck next time, _Hero._ " Of course, her actions, which entailed releasing Tōru with a bit of a blush – after all, Toru might be invisible, but that didn't mean Kyōka couldn't feel the other girl's body - were completely contrary to her words. She stalked away silently, leaving the beaten, pouting invisible girl to walk down and out of the building dejectedly.

…

Elsewhere in the building Kirishima had almost immediately found their objective but did not think to call it in to his partner. He crashed into a room that was full of crates, and he could see the nose of the bomb pointing to the roof behind a set of the crates. He **Hardened** his body and barreled forward, but started to slip and slide almost immediately, "Woooaaah!" he cried out as he crashed to the floor and continued to slide right into the crates. The entire stack tumbled down on him as he broke right through them.

"Kero, kero, kero!" The absolutely most adorable-sounding evil laughter in existence rang through the room, "You'll have to try harder than that, Hero!" Tsu was hanging on one of the walls, more like a spider than a frog if he were honest with himself.

Kirishima punched through the rest of the crates and hesitantly got up, worried about more of whatever that slick substance was. "What the hell was that? That's something I would have expected from Mina!"

"Kero, kero! I won't be monologuing for you. Come at me, Hero!" Tsu shot back, before leaping nearly across the room and away from the bomb.

It appealed to his pride to beat her, especially after his fall, but that wasn't what his idol would have done! "Nice try!" Kirishima laughed as he turned away and started racing for the bomb, **Hardening** his skin as he ran.

At first, he thought he might have been better served to stay un- **Hardened** , since it slowed him down. Then Tsu's tongue whipped out of her mouth and extended its full distance, wrapping around his leg and tripping him. He bashed his head on the floor and was suddenly very thankful that he had protected himself with his Quirk beforehand.

But Tsu wasn't done. She whipped her head around and her tongue dragged Kirishima with it, flinging him into and right through a wall. "So, you're smarter than you look, Hero! But you're too slow to get past me on your own! Kero, kero!"

"Damn!" Kirishima broke right back in, "If I can't get around you then I'll go through you!" he raced forward to engage with Tsu, displaying his great strength as he leapt at her, his landing cratering the wall behind her as she dodged. He kicked off the wall right after her and tried to give her a hard punch.

But Tsu backflipped away, landed, and performed an epic-looking spinning-back-kick that knocked his arms away. An instant later her tongue flashed forward to smash right into his face. But he only grinned as he turned back to her, "You're too weak, Villain! Your hits can't hurt me at all!"

The announcement that came over the intercom a second later on the other hand, definitely could. " **Hagakure has been captured and it out of the match! Please exit the arena!** "

"What!" His eyes bulged, "Shit!" He **Hardened** a bit more and started trying harder to beat Tsu.

But she was just too fast. Every single punch and kick he threw were dodged with grace. The Froggy girl made it look _easy_. Of course, none of her retaliatory strikes could hurt him in the slightest, but he couldn't make any progress towards the objective. Every time he tried to break away from her and run towards the bomb, she would just yank it away. Even when he faked moving towards it and prepared a hard backhand to try to injure her tongue, he was only able to get a pained grimace from her when his blow connected, and she didn't let up at all.

Once when he hit the same point on her tongue he'd already tagged Tsuyu recoiled just enough for him to dive for the bomb, but his opponent still out-speeded him used her tongue to pull the bomb out of his reach once again. She set it back up in a completely different side of the room, and before he could move she had grabbed a piece of rubble he'd created and whipped it at him.

"Damn it! I'm running out of time!" He took a step forward, and then crashed to his knees as he was engulfed by sound, his hands flying to his ears as his eardrums began to almost pulsate with the noise slamming into him like a physical force.

"Yeah, looks like your time _is_ up, Hero!" Kyōka grinned as she stepped in, her leg-speakers blasting her heartbeat at him at several decibels too high for him to handle, "Great job Tsu!" She flung Hagakure's Capture Tape to her partner.

"Kero!" Tsu ribbited and caught the tape with her tongue, before easily wrapping up Kirishima with it.

" **Kirishima has been captured! Both Heroes have been incapacitated! Asui and Jīrō are the winners!** "

Jīrō grinned and pumped a fist in the air before raising a hand to high-five her partner, "Great job Tsu!"

"You too, Kyōka-chan!" Instead of taking the high five though, she pulled Kyōka into a hug, which Kyōka, after a start, returned warmly, before they broke off, going to free their enemy.

"Drat, I lost!" Kirishima didn't look _too_ bummed out, but he was clearly disappointed with his performance. "You two were just overwhelming! That was a great match!"

"Thank you/kero, kero!" The two young ladies replied, one of them smirking at him.

 **-]|[-**

Moments later however, Kyōka had her face in her hands, which did nothing to disguise her earlobes dancing in embarrassment or the hints of red on her neck. When she spoke, her words were muffled, and no one could really understand her. "Gah!"

Hagakure was giggling happily, "So, you like acting huh, Kyōka-chan?"

The rest of the class didn't have access to any microphones, so they hadn't been able to _hear_ anything, but they could see everything, and that was enough to embarrass Kyōka, especially with Hagakure telling everyone how she had acted out her part.

" **Settle down!** " All Might commanded. His time limit was going to rear its ugly head if he didn't keep the class on pace, " **Time for the after-action reports! Who would like to go first?** "

"I was very impressed with Jīrō-san." Momo said, drawing another blush from the punk-ish girl, "Her hearing must be absolutely phenomenal and her ability to be selective with what she hears must be too. Kirishima-san was making what must have been a severe racket and she was still able to pick Hagakure-san up."

"Yahoo!" Inasa was pumped right up and holding on to the hope his team would be next, "Tsu-chan performed great too! She was able to keep Kiri away from the bomb no matter how hard he tried to go through her or even around her! Despite that, our little Rockstar should still get the MVP! She not only captured her opponent but still managed to think to take the other team's capture tape!"

Kyōka was now reaching Izuku-levels of blush, ' _It's official. I'm going to die of embarrassment._ '

" **Agreed! Well done, young lady!** " All Might beamed at her, " **But don't get discouraged – young ones – if you aren't the MVP. Remember! You're all here to learn and improve! I saw good things from all of you, and all of you have great potential! It will be up to us – the staff AND your classmates – to bring it out of you! Take this for what it is meant to be: a learning experience! Whether you won or lost, always take the time to learn and improve!** "

The class hung on to his every word and started to realize _more_ than just the obvious why this man had been the top hero for so damn long.

" **But we're burning daylight! So! Let's get to the next matchups!** " All Might – ever mindful of his time limit – tried to move things along.

But Mina wasn't done, and she raised her hand, "Wait, I still have something to say about the Hero team too!"

" **Oh, my apologies young lady! Go right ahead.** " All Might yielded the floor to her, a bit chagrined that he had tried to end things too quickly.

"Right! I did see some things I liked from the Hero team. When Tsu-chan tried to bait Kiri into fighting her and drawing him away from the objective, Kiri ignored her and went right for the bomb like he should have! It may not have worked out, but I thought that was great!"

"Ah shucks, you're making me blush!" Kirishima chuckled slightly, thumbing his nose.

Iida let out a gasp, "I had noticed that too! My sincerest apologies for not thinking to mention it!" he bowed deeply to Kirishima.

"Whoa, whoa, settle down buddy. It's cool!" Kirishima was now actually blushing and looking a little bashful.

Tsuyu spoke up next, "I thought Tōru-chan did pretty well too, all things considered. It was a pity she was matched up against Kyōka-chan. Her hearing was even more impressive than I had thought it would be. Tōru-chan managed to get into the building sneakily and if it hadn't been for Kyōka-chan, she could have staked the whole place out or even bugged it without any of us even noticing. Her stealth is a little scary. Kero, kero!" She smiled in the invisible girl's direction.

Hagakure glomped her in response, "Thanks Tsu-chan! You're so sweet!"

" **Excellent! My apologies for trying to move things along too quickly. I did not mean to overlook your own performance and am glad young Ashido interrupted me! The Hero team indeed performed admirably. Perhaps next time, they shall be victorious!** " All Might smiled at the hugging pair, and flashed Kirishima a thumbs-up who returned it with a grin, not at all bothered, " **But the show must go on!** " Rather than reaching into the box, All Might pointed at a screen which flashed, and four students gained determined looks, " **Looks like we have the Villain Team A vs the Hero Team B!** " Off to the side, Katsuki let out a growl of both fury and disappointment.

"Yes!" Mina cheered, "We're up, Midori! Let's go for shock and awe!"

"I think that's my line!" Kaminari grinned, letting a few sparks of lightning flow on his hair.

Inasa clapped him on the shoulders, "Show them what you got, my man!"

"You'll do amazing, Deku-kun!" Ochaco beamed at him, "Go and show everyone what you can do! It'll be like whoosh, and shing!" She started miming him with his sword, getting chuckles out of everyone.

"Good luck, Midoriya-san, Ashido-san." Momo flashed them a smile that was no less determined than their grins. She turned to All Might, "Sensei, with what my abilities entail, am I allowed to use my Quirk for support purposes before our countdown has actually started? I ask because I imagine many of our missions will be assigned beforehand or we would at least have some time to think while en route."

" **Hmmm…** " All Might rubbed his chin, " **Yes, I shall allow it, provided you make no attempts to actually** _ **use**_ **anything until the exercise has begun.** "

Her answering beaming-grin may have been beatific, but it also served to put a chill down several spines.

 **-]|[-**

"So, what do you think, Midori?" Mina asked as the two of them stood beside their bomb. The area they had been given to defend as the Villains had been a bit of a surprise. There had been a 'tiny' lake in one of the city's areas, and they were supposed to plant the bomb in a set of warehouses/offices in a pier-style location. As if they were doing their damndest to make the scenario feel 'real,' the bomb had even been put into a shipping container, which they had just opened and officially begun their timer.

On the way to the combat zone they had been given a map of the compound they were to defend, and Izuku had nearly put Mina into stitches as he fired up one of his mumbling sprees, complete with frantically-fast writing into a notebook he had summoned from… _somewhere_. The pink girl had been giggling the entire jog there. But now, she was very serious as she pointed down at the map. "I say we put it into the second floor of _this_ building."

Izuku tapped his chin, "I feel like that's a bit too obvious, M-Mina. It is the biggest one, after all. I feel like Yaoyorozu-san would think to look there first. Or would she know that I know that? But then, would she try to double-bluff me, knowing that I know that she knows that?"

"Oh jeez, you two are really our big brains, huh?" Mina teased with a grin, "I see your point, that is probably too obvious. But would that even matter with All Might giving Yaomomo permission to create stuff beforehand? We have no idea what kinds of spy gear she could make, or if trying to hide the bomb would even work. It would also give us the biggest chance to play keep-away with the bomb, and give us the most amount of room to maneuver in. None of the other buildings look like they have areas we could barricade the bomb behind."

"Great catch!" he smiled at her, earning another sweet grin which made him flush a bit, before he got back on track, "I say we go with that building, but put it on the third floor instead. While they _potentially_ have more mobility than I'm assuming, that would all be tied to items Yaoyorozu-san can make. If they try for a rooftop insertion, either one or both of them would have to expend more energy getting there and it would delay them a bit." She flashed him a thumbs-up in agreement, "So that leaves defense."

"I don't think so." Mina said, shaking her head, "With her Quirk's capabilities, I feel like that would leave them too much leeway. I think we need to go on the _attack_." She raised a fist, "We're supposed to be Villains here, right? Neither of our Quirks are really good for booby-trapping the place or creating a safe zone. At best I'd be able to use some slick acid to try to mess with their balance. And on the other hand, I'd say _hers_ is perfect for defeating that kind of strategy anyway. I say we hunt."

"Villain, huh?" Izuku mumbled, his mind flashing to his former friend, who very much had an attitude which was _not_ heroic, no matter his desires. Kacchan definitely would not be standing still waiting for them to come to him. _'Plus, All Might is the largest ham in existence. And I did say I'd be his successor, right?'_ He thought to himself.

"I don't agree with leaving the bomb unattended. I say you stay as the last line of defense. With your strength, speed, and nimbleness, I think you could beat either of them one-on-one. Your acid could very well be a good counter to his lightning, and you could certainly melt anything she throws at you. Meanwhile, I could always teleport back if you need help."

"Yahoo!" She said, deliberately mimicking Inasa in her excitement, "I'm all over it, Midori-dude! Let's get these _Heroes._ Mwahahaha!"

…

From where she and her partner waited, Momo watched the clock they were set next to attentively. She had a bag over her shoulder and was itching to open it and reveal its contents. She had gone behind a container – one which she had been assured had no cameras aimed at it by All Might. Even though she had pasties on her chest to conceal her modesty if she needed to open her leotard, she wasn't about to go giving the rest of her class a free show if she didn't need to. Just in case one of them fell off – and had created the items she had wanted. Once done, she brought back her bag of goodies to her partner who thankfully had not tried to peek. "How do you think they're going to play this?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure." Kaminari replied, not bothering to try to flirt anymore. His earlier attempt had been ignored (to the point where he wasn't sure she had even noticed), so he didn't think there was a point. She was too intensely focused on the match, which was pretty sexy anyway. "Their personalities don't seem like they would mesh in a team setting. Midoriya is shy but appears determined and meticulous. Ashido on the other hand seems like a free spirit and a bit wild, though in a good way. I feel like they would make a mistake the same way Kirishima and Hagakure did."

"That's too presumptuous." Momo chided, "Everyone who is in this course has earned their spot, and Midoriya won one of the top spots on the Assessments. We shouldn't assume we've seen all of them or compare them to the other group. Their Quirks are far more compatible than Hagakure-san and Kirishima-san's."

He grimaced, "Which puts us back at square one, because I have no idea what they're going to do."

Momo frowned slightly as she looked around the battle zone. "I say we split up once we have located the bomb. I don't think they will bother trying to create a multitude of traps and defenses. Neither of their Quirks are really suited for it, beyond Midoriya-san being able to possibly lift enough crates and such to form a wall around the bomb. I think one of them will be out to attack. Most likely Midoriya if that ability he displayed in the Fifty-Meter-Dash was any indication."

She turned to look at him. "I think you'll have to draw his attention away and allow me to breach. I'm more confident in my ability to face her and you to face him." He nodded, and she turned back to the clock. "Five…four…three…two…" She adjusted the strap and readied herself, "One!" She yelled and practically ripped open her bag, allowing what looked like military-grade drones to fall out.

"Holy shit!" Kaminari's jaw dropped and he nearly drooled as he took the remote from her, "Do you have any idea how much I wanted one of these when I was a kid?" He slammed the joystick forward after turning it on but saw – much to his disappointment – that he'd been given the camera-on-wheels one, rather than the flying one. His little tube with wheels crashed into fence, "Ack!"

"And that's why I get the flying one." At his distraught look Momo giggled for a moment, before focusing and expertly flying the drone, showing him this wasn't the first time she'd used this construct. "We need to locate the bomb within the first three minutes. That gives us twelve to get to where we need to be and attack. Hurry!" She watched the screen intently, walking forward into the compound and inadvertently putting herself in severe danger if this had been a real terrorist situation. She was well into the open.

Kaminari hastened to follow, his little drone making little noise as it sped towards the first building. He drove it through a small vent in one of the walls – musing this felt JUST like that really old game Rainbow Six Siege – and kept searching. "Nothing in the first one." He said, crossing it off their list with the tablet-screen, which was linked to Momo's.

Momo flew her drone to the farthest building and switched the camera to an x-ray camera. "Unless they have a way of fooling the camera, the farthest one is empty too."

"You don't think they really did just put it into the biggest building, right?" He asked her.

There was a moment's pause, before they both directed their drones as fast as they could, "Target found." She said a bit dully, cursing herself, "I don't know if they outsmarted us or if I outsmarted myself. Good call, Kaminari-san." They started to run, "You take the front entrance. I'll go behind and hit them from the roof. The bomb is on the third floor! Wait!" She yelled as they separated. He jerked to a stop, and she held her hand to her stomach. The rainbow glow of her Quirk shone, and then she tossed something to him. His eyes widened, and he grinned madly as he felt the fully-charged battery teeming with power for him to consume. Before he could thank and praise her, she had already raced off.

Momo swiftly moved behind the building, taking a moment to regain her breath and think about what she needed. It took her roughly twenty seconds, but she drew a grappling-hook-gun from her stomach and aimed it up. The rope went taut as it hooked onto the roof, and she tugged on it a few times to make sure it was secure. Another ten seconds had her putting on a harness and clipping the thick nylon to herself. It took her another minute of climbing, but she made it in. they had eleven minutes left, which she was pretty pleased with.

She put on a pair of rubber gloves and tried the door, which was unlocked to her surprise. She descended down the stairs.

…

From where he and Mina had been waiting, Izuku opened his eyes. "They're here." He had been sitting in a meditation pose, floating in the air much to Mina's delight.

"Your Quirk is so cool! I wish I had it!" She whined a bit, before shaking herself rapidly. "Erm, anyway, that didn't take them long."

"But longer than I thought it would! Looks like your reasoning for this building was spot on." She grinned in response to his words, even as he righted himself and dropped down to land on his feet. "Remember the plan. Make sure you call me if you need to!"

"Good hunting, Midori, and have fun playing the Villain!" She cheered and resolved herself to wait and prepare herself.

"You as well." Were his last words before he was gone in a flash of light to meet Kaminari.

This was actually perfect for their plans. They were more confident in her ability to handle Momo than him, since they weren't actually sure if her acid could block his lightning. He would trust his partner to handle the very talented young woman she was facing.

He appeared in a room he'd previously canvassed and threw out his senses. He knew Kaminari would need to pass by here to make it to the stairs, so he started preparing a force blast. Then, right as he felt the blonde coming into range, he thrust his arm forward and the air warped as his **Air Cannon** blasted into the wall.

On the other side, Kaminari was _immensely thankful_ for two things; First was the fact that his lightning-based abilities enhanced his senses to the point that he could speed up his perception to make it feel like he was watching things around him in slow motion in a pinch. Secondly, the fact that he had managed to _hide that fact_ from his classmates thus far. As the wall exploded, he wasted no time at all in high-tailing it out of the blast zone in a burst of intense speed. As he somersaulted and landed, he turned to stare at his opponent, ' _Holy shit, that was too close!_ '

"You shouldn't have come, _Hero!_ " Izuku purposefully loosened the lightbulbs above, throwing the room into semi-darkness and leaving his green eyes flashing ominously. Kaminari nearly crapped his pants, "You just brought two more souls to be incinerated!"

' _H-he's taking this so seriously! And holy shit, is he good at it!_ ' Kaminari nearly panicked, the sight of Izuku's glowing eyes creeping him the hell out. But this was what he was training for, wasn't it? Gritting his teeth Kaminari shouted, "Not if I have anything to say about it!" He aimed his arm forward as it began to spark. A big crackle of lightning raced forward, forcing Izuku to dodge.

"Good! You have some fight in you! I'd hate for it to be boring!" Monologuing and taunting had two purposes; one was to get into his opponent's head – which he was honestly finding to be fun now that he was trying it for himself, and it made him understand his mentor Toshinori a bit more – and the other was to run down the clock.

"I'll show you boring!" Kaminari roared as his right arm started to crackle. Three distinct balls of lightning started to swarm on his jacket, growing larger quickly, " **Lightning Rockets!** " He yelled as they fired forward, far slower than the bolt he had sent earlier but still pretty fast.

Izuku thrust his arm forward in reply and another force blast raced to meet his foe's attack. The two attacks collided and seemed to merge in midair, before detonating with staggering force. Kaminari was flung back and landed on his back with a thud, while Izuku was merely lifted into the air and forced to backflip, feeling as if a giant palm had just tried to push him through the air. He started to float rather than touching down, even as the hallways they were in rumbled a bit as walls crumbled. Parts of the ceiling started to rain down as well.

' _Shit, I can't fight him well in this hallway. There's not enough room._ ' Kaminari groaned as he got to his feet, ' _Sorry Momo, you're on your own. I have to keep him here or there's no way we win._ ' With that, he flung himself into the next room, literally bursting through the wall and sending more debris flying. The next room was much more spacious, which was more to his liking. He could move here.

"Trying to get more room to maneuver, huh? Bad idea, Hero! That kind of move aids both of us equally!" Izuku followed him in, floating without a care in the world, his cape flaring behind him. He smirked at the blonde menacingly, "And giving me rubble to work with?" The destroyed bits of rock and plaster and even some steel they'd created during their thus-brief fight glowed green and lifted into the air. Kaminari came very close to shitting himself, "That's an even worse idea!"

Kaminari threw an arm forward and a translucent shield of pure lightning formed in front of him as Izuku shot the wreckage forward at high speeds. Kaminari grunted with each hit on his shield, the impacts absorbed but his energy draining as he did so. He charged up a couple balls of lightning in his hand, and the moment the barrage stopped, he flung them at his enemy.

Izuku swung his cape forward, and then performed what amounted to a shield bash to knock the **Lightning Grenades** away. But that only got Kaminari to grin, "Jackpot!" The attacks stuck to Izuku's cape, whose eyes widened in fear.

BZZZTTTT!

Crackling waves of electricity engulfed Izuku, who screamed in pain as his body flashed. The network of his nerves could momentarily be seen on his skin, and he fell to the ground, muscles twitching. His cape was smoldering now, covered in black patches where the fabric had burned under the intense heat.

Seeing this Kaminari grinned. "Thanks for trying to bat away my **Sticky Grenades** , evildoer! I win! You won't be able to move anymore!"

But as he raced forward to end the fight with the capture tape Izuku's eyes flashed as he took control of his body using telekinesis. He drew his Psyblade and swung upwards, making his opponent panic as he threw himself to the side. The psionic blade of wind practically sliced to room in half. "You should have made sure I was down before gloating, Hero!" he growled as he held his sword in front of him.

Kaminari rolled near a pipe and grabbed it. The item started crackling with electricity as he ran forward, "Why the hell won't you stay down!?" He roared as he performed an overhand smash with the pipe, lightning exploding from it upon impact with the floor when Izuku dodged, scorching the tiles.

"Die!" For a moment Izuku channeled his inner Kacchan, and immediately decided that that was a bit much, even for just acting. He still swung his Psyblade at his enemy, and an instant later tiny bolts of lightning escaped as the weapons clashed.

Now, Kaminari's strength was definitely superhuman due to his Quirk. Not to the level of an actual Quirk meant to grant super strength, but it was still very much enhanced beyond normal human level. He was just built tough.

That said, Izuku's psionic strength was on a whole other level. The flat of his blade swiftly knocked the pipe away and the impact nearly wrenched Kaminari's shoulder out of its socket. The follow-up roundhouse to the blonde's midsection nearly took him out of the fight entirely. spittle flew from his lips as he crashed to the ground, rolling a couple times.

"You were better than I expected, Hero!" Izuku intoned sharply as he watched Kaminari struggle to move. He likely had broken a rib, and he felt immensely bad for his classmate now that the moment was over, "Now stay down and await your demise!" he turned and made to leave the room to go hunt Momo.

…

Elsewhere, Mina waited impatiently, practically bouncing on her heels as she waited for _something_ fun to happen. She could hear the loud bangs and crashes from below, indicating her partner's fight with one of their opponents. That had the downside of not being able to hear much else happening close to her. She had no idea if he had engaged both of them or just one – that was definitely a miscommunication on their part, and one she couldn't rectify at the moment because she didn't want to risk distracting him – or how the fight was going. But she had faith in her teammate and knew he would definitely win.

Her musing was rudely interrupted as the door _freaking_ blew open. "Holy shit!" She screamed in a little fear as she took cover behind one of the crates. She was so glad they had placed the bomb far away from the door with some crates to provide defenses. "Was that a fucking breaching charge?!" She screeched, before noticing some items being flung through the door.

Mina's eyes bugged out and she thanked all the shooters she played with Kiri as she recognized the flashbangs and gas grenades Yaomomo had just thrown through the door. "Oh no you don't!" She expertly aimed the balls of acid she threw forward, dissolving the grenades into mush.

Her plan ruined, Momo rushed through the door and ripped off her gas mask and earmuffs. "Surrender, Villain! The authorities may be merciful if you lay down!"

"Hero bitch!" The fake-villainess snarled, "How the hell did you get your hands on a breaching charge, flashbangs, and gas grenades?"

"I made them, of course!" Momo declared, fists on her hips, fighting back a pout, feeling a little hurt at the insult, despite knowing that this was really just a game they were playing. "You shouldn't have turned to a life of crime! I'll capture you here and now!" Their talking had served its purpose by then, allowing Momo to reach above her shoulder and pull a Bō staff out of her neck.

"Ah crap!" Mina chided herself for giving Momo time to do that. She gathered acid in her hand and flung it at the well-endowed girl, but Momo just dodged most of it and swung her staff to block the rest. Mina's eyes widened as she saw no effect on the staff, "What? Why isn't it dissolving?"

Momo smirked, "I covered it in a layer of plastic, of course. Your acid might be powerful, but it is still acid. And acid does not eat through everything!"

"Grrr!" Mina growled, "I'll just have to do this the hard way then!" She flung herself up and forward, somersaulting in the air and dropping an axe kick right towards Momo's head. The black-haired young lady gaped at her athleticism for a moment, before blocking with her staff. The impact nearly caused her to drop her weapon and her knees buckled a bit, but she recovered and parried. Mina fell to the floor with her move but landed on her hands and proved her skill at break-dancing as she started throwing kick after kick towards Momo, flinging acid at her opponents where she could.

Yet Momo had recovered from her initial surprise and matched Mina's moves with her own. Both of them quickly proved they belonged in the Hero Course as they began a deadly dance, swinging, parrying dodging, summersaulting around one another. Both of them were extremely flexible and far stronger than they looked. Mina was quicker and more flexible, but Momo was no slouch herself. The two were stalemated, throwing mostly kicks but a few punches or staff strikes as well, both of them concentrating on dodging more than setting up a stronger attack. Everything was dodged or blocked as if they were performing, rather than fighting.

Mina threw a roundhouse towards Momo's head, who dodged it by a hair and retaliated by swinging her staff at Mina's head. Mina dodged by performing a split with the same motion as she completed her kick, and her slick acids meant it was easy for her to use the momentum to continue to spin, throwing herself onto her hands acrobatically and starting to windmill. She got lucky and nailed Momo on the hand then, forcing her to drop her staff and hiss in pain.

The taller girl backpedaled as tiny little ball bearings started to drop from her body, pinging on the floor like a waterfall. She thanked the heavens that these were easy to create en masse.

"Oh crap!" Mina yelled as she had to stop moving and land back on her feet, before she had a banana-peel moment on the tiny balls. No way even she could keep her balance there. But she tested a theory that the covering Momo used on her staff to stop her acid was too difficult to make in a rush and spread her acid out. The metal balls immediately dissolved.

But they had accomplished their goal, which was to give Momo breathing room. She pulled a thick-mesh net from her stomach covered at the ends by little weights and flung the net at her opponent. "Nice try!" Mina yelled as she flung acid at the trap. The attack melted the mesh straight away.

But that had just been a distraction. Momo now flung herself at her opponent before she could counter, bearing the both of them to the floor. On the ground the taller, stronger Momo straddled her classmate's hips with her own and yanked the Capture Tape out, trapping Mina. "Shit!" Mina yelled, as the intercom announced that she was out.

"G-good fight!" Momo panted as she scrambled off Mina and extended her hand out.

…

As Izuku turned away, Kaminari reached into his pocket for Momo's parting gift. He started absorbing the electricity within, and not only felt his strength return but even his injuries started to heal. As Izuku whirled back around, Kaminari blasted him with one of the biggest bolts of lightning he'd ever launched. Izuku's teeth clenched in pain as he was electrocuted, his body spasming. This time it was a direct impact, not three weaker ones half-absorbed by his cape.

Kaminari slumped as he again ran out of juice, before his eyes widened at the sight in front of him. "Holy shit, you're still not down!?" He yelled incredulously.

Izuku was smoking lightly as he shakily raised a hand. Kaminari was then engulfed in green and launched into the air, before slamming down on the ground again. Once. Twice. Three times. And then Izuku crashed to his knees next to him, opening his eyelids to stare inside, breathing a sigh of relief. Kaminari was out like a light.

" **Ashido has been captured! Kaminari has been incapacitated!** " All Might's voice rang out.

"Oh no!" Izuku yelled, before teleporting away.

In the room with the bomb, Momo's fingers were just about to brush her target when she was engulfed in an emerald glow and flung away. "No! The weapon!" She screamed, before hitting the ground and rolling. She shakily used her arms to push herself back up and observed the still-smoking Izuku shakily get to his feet too. _Kaminari must have done a number on him._

"Sorry Midori!" Mina yelled from her place on the floor, "I got caught!"

"Don't worry, you did great, Mina!" Izuku shakily reassured her. He grimaced in pain as he spasmed again. His body then started to glow as he started to puppet himself once more. Izuku knew he couldn't allow the pain to slow him down. He still had to beat Momo. But that didn't mean that it wouldn't hurt even worse when they were finished.

Momo scrambled to her feet and grabbed her staff. They were both pretty weary at this point, so she could only hope he was more tired than she was. She rushed forward, engaging with her Bō. Izuku raised his Psyblade and met her evenly. Within a few parries Momo started to panic as it quickly became clear that she wasn't a match for him in strength or speed. She had always prided herself on her ability with her staff, but she wasn't making any headway at all.

She swiped at his head, which was blocked by his own weapon. She immediately reversed and tried to take his legs out with the other end, but he simply flipped over it – and _her –_ and landed behind her. She dove for the bomb rather than turning, but felt cloth wrap around her leg instead, knocking her to the ground. She caught herself on her hands, but before she could do anything else, she was dragged back and flung away from the weapon, whereupon she shakily got back to her feet. Momo saw the cloth of his sash flapping a bit, before it straightened out and became a blade once more and he started running for her.

She backpedaled and started her ball-bearing rain again, but Izuku immediately turned it on her by grabbing the balls with his telekinesis and flinging them at her like buckshot. She had to bite back a scream of pain as she was pelted with her own creations, covering herself as best she could.

Then Momo had to dodge out of the way of a kick, and her panic started to grow as she couldn't get enough breathing room to use her Quirk for anything that could help her. She had to double down on the staff, flinging herself back into a close-range fight and trying to knock his block off, but he was just too good. He blocked and parried everything, and she started slowing down as exhaustion reared its ugly head.

And then the announcement came, " **Time is up! I repeat, time is up! The Villains are victorious!** "

"No!" Momo wailed, as she fell to her knees, propping herself up with her staff. Small tears appeared in her eyes as she bowed her head, "I… I lost…"

Izuku crashed to the floor, panting as he caught his breath and allowed his muscles free reign once more. He was back to twitching under the effects of his electrocution, grimacing in pain. But he saw Momo looking despondent and twitched his way over to slump next to her. "You were amazing!" He said in admiration, putting a hand on her shoulder, "You were probably a hair away from winning!"

She blinked at him adorably, her mouth open just the tiniest bit. "B-but?"

"Yeah, you totally outsmarted me!" Mina chimed in, still wrapped up in the Capture Tape. She stuck her tongue out and had a silly look on her face, which made Momo giggle a bit, "I thought I had you then bam, straddled!" She leered at the bustier girl playfully, "I'll be on top next time!" She then watched gleefully as both Izuku and Momo practically went iridescent at that, causing Mina to howl in laughter "Bwahaha! You two are too cute!"

They both joined her with small, nervous giggles of their own, before Izuku shook his head. "Come on. We should go get our evaluations." He said slowly, grimacingly pushing to his feet before offering Momo his hand.

She swallowed, before taking it and getting to her feet, "T-thanks." She murmured with a slight, shy blush, going over to Mina and freeing her.

"Seriously though, I didn't suspect a thing!" Mina praised her after giving her a quick hug, "That was an awesome trick with the net. And the ball bearings were badass too! I never would have thought about doing something so simple in a fight! But Midori was so badass too! He was like whoosh and then-"

While Momo didn't really feel like she had done enough, as she listened to the energetic girl babble excitedly, she started feeling like maybe things weren't so bad. ' _I-is this what having friends is like? I think I can get used to this!'_

 **-]|[-**

" **An excellent bout, young ones!** " All Might praised them. Recovery Girl had obviously been on standby for the Battle Trials, so she had already given them a few kisses. Their injuries were all healed, much to Izuku's relief. Being electrocuted was _not_ fun. " **Now it's time for the after-action reports! What say you?** "

The room exploded in a cacophony of sound, almost everyone wanting to be heard. "Kaminari and Midoriya are so strong! I'm so glad I wasn't paired against either of them!" Hagakure's voice rang out.

"So manly!" Kirishima was again crying with a fist shaking in front of him.

"I see you too can revel in the dark, Midoriya-san. Kaminari-san looked terrified." Tokoyami intoned, remembered Izuku's intimidation attempt against Kaminari.

"Whahaha! You were chewing the scenery up, my man!" Inasa clapped Izuku on the back, "You looked like you were having a blast!"

"Ehehehe…" Izuku bashfully rubbed the back of his head, "It was a little fun, actually…"

"Wow Yaomomo!" Ochaco was bouncing near the Creation Hero-in-Training, "Your Quirk is so awesome! I couldn't believe it when I saw the drones!" The girl in question was once more blushing from all the praise she was receiving as Ochako went on. "Deku-kun had to try so hard just to keep you away from the bomb!"

" **One at a time, one at a time!** " All Might pleaded, looking for raised hands. His eyebrows rose, " **Todoroki-shonen, your thoughts?** "

Everyone's attention turned to the ice-user. The heterochromic boy did not speak often, so when he did, people listened., "Midoriya was obviously the MVP of the exercise." Shōto declared, his face showing an intensity that was somewhat off-putting. "He successfully knocked out one of the Heroes and held off the other until time expired. He also prepared a well-thought-out ambush and could obviously tell when the Heroes were approaching. He also leveraged his ability to teleport to save the match. Ashido performed well in the fight, and we could tell she was involved in the planning session in some capacity. Despite that, she let her guard down against Yaoyorozu. Yaoyorozu herself performed well but started to panic once she lost control of the situation, and Kaminari never had control. He was reacting the entire fight, and only seemed to have the one plan which relied on Midoriya dropping his guard."

" **A well thought out analysis, young man. Midoriya-shonen did indeed perform beyond admirably. His plan was well thought out and even hurting and aching, he did not stop until the mission was done. Remember that, all of you! Remember what it means to Go Beyond! Remember what it means to push yourself when your every muscle is begging for rest and your entire body is trembling in pain! This may have been a victory, but it was a hard fought one! And your careers will be chock full of those!** "

Despite all the praise the others had been giving her, Todoroki's words again had Momo once again feel her confidence take a sharp pounding. Her panic had been blaringly obvious, and it had caused her loss. She hung her head sadly.

" **However, your answer was not all I was looking for.** " Most of the rest of the class looked pretty surprised, none more than Todoroki himself, " **Any others?** " His grin widened as his gaze landed on his protégé, " **Yes, Midoriya-shonen?** "

"I disagree with Todoroki-san. I actually think Yaoyorozu-san was the MVP." Izuku's voice rang out, getting Momo to practically do a spit-take as she turned to stare at him, a dumbfounded look on her face.

" **Oho? Explain.** " All Might while inside he grinned, having part of what he wanted now.

"From the moment the fight started, Yaoyorozu-san's abilities were invaluable. She created their means of scouting the area and located us quickly. She also would have been able to accurately determine how many enemies the heroes would be facing using her equipment. She then provided her teammate with a last resort Support Item compatible with his Quirk, and while her partner was fighting me, she managed to overwhelm my own partner." Izuku stated.

As he spoke, Momo held her hands in front of her chest, feeling… _odd_ … to say the least at hearing her former opponent praise her like this. Warm, almost.

"That gift to her partner was enough to almost incapacitate me because I dropped my guard, and then the victory would have been theirs. Yes, my ability to teleport back was part of our plan, but it almost didn't matter because of how much time was left when Mina was taken out. If I was unable to defeat Kaminari before she beat Mina, I could have run away but then would have been facing a two-on-one once he caught up. Even so, if she had been just a hair faster getting off Mina, she could have gotten to the bomb before I was able to get her off of it. Fact of the matter is… she was a photo-finish away from winning."

Momo was blushing heavily as she stared at Izuku, her heart now for certain thudding in her chest.

All Might laughed loudly, making her start and turn back to him, " **Excellent, Midoriya-shonen! Truly wonderful!** " His gaze snapped to Momo, who felt her spine straighten in instant reflex, " **But there's more! There will come a time in** _ **every**_ **hero's life where they face insurmountable odds! No matter how our profession gets glorified or the tabloids decry our words as cheesy lip service… nothing could be further from the truth!"**

His gaze swept the class, an intense look on his face that went strangely with his massive smile **. "All of us, all of you! At one point or another, you will be called upon to lay down on the wire to let others crawl over you! As Aizawa-sensei told you… the world isn't fair! Natural disasters can strike at any moment, and Villains who are truly evil to degrees you wouldn't believe exist! There will be times when you come up against The Wall, and it will seem infinitely high! It happens to us all in our line of work! Yes, even myself! I'm sure all of you saw me bleeding during my debut! What is important, is that you never stop trying to overcome that wall!** " There was a smattering of murmurs coming from the students.

He clenched a fist in front of him, beaming at Momo, before pointing a finger at her, " **And in times of extreme duress** **like those, I want all of you to remember this wonderful young lady!** " As Momo turned a new shade of red heretofore unknown to man he went on, " **This may have only been a simulation, but when you're out facing your own Wall it'll seem real enough to you, just as it did for them! Even when she faced adversity, she never gave up! Even as she was pulled further away from her goal, she never laid down and accepted defeat! Even as she came face to face with an opponent she simply could not overcome, she fought until the bitter end! Take this loss and wear it like a badge of honor, Yaoyorozu-Shōjo. Adapt. Learn from your mistakes and overcome them! That is the meaning of Plus Ultra!** "

Momo now had her hands over her mouth and was smiling happily behind them. Small tears pooled in her eyes, and she nodded quickly and wiped them away, "Yes sir! Thank you, All Might!"

" **Think nothing of it! You deserve it.** " He went back to standing with his fists on his hips, " **But that is not to take away from what was said about Midoriya-shonen. The both of you clearly shared equal value in your respective teams, and so the both of you shall share the MVP for this round. You both get full marks.** "

The class cheered at his announcement, and Momo beamed happily, before turning to the one who had spoken on her behalf, "T-thank you, Izuku-san." She told him, ' _D-did I just stutter?'_ Was there something wrong with her? Why was she still feeling so happy, especially when she considered his words, beyond even the feeling All Might's words had brought her? In her confusion, Momo didn't even realize she switched to using his first name.

But Izuku did, and he blushed more than a bit as he replied in kind "You deserved it, M-Momo-san."

"Yeah, you were totally awesome!" Mina almost leapt on Momo's back, getting a short gasp from the taller girl. "I totally want a rematch! I'll win next time!"

Momo smiled happily and almost started… bouncing without moving, her face suddenly seeming as cute as a cherub. "Of course! We should all keep improving ourselves! Which means I'll have to train hard, so I don't fall behind!" With that the beaming grin on her face practically lit the room. The rest of the class just… took it in. They hadn't been expecting her to be so _bubbly_ , and it was adorable.

"Oh!" Mina suddenly turned to Momo again, "Right, I forgot about this! Yaomomo, I didn't say anything during the match because I didn't want to break character, but you made a bad mistake when you were fighting me!"

Momo's eyes widened, "I… I did? What did I do?"

"Your plastic-covered gear worked, but only because I wasn't going all out." Mina told her, drawing shocked gasps from much of the class, "You shouldn't assume that something made by a Quirk will behave the same way it would behave if made in like a lab or something. My acid – if I really, _really_ push myself – can actually behave more like cartoon acid than anything that exists naturally. As in, it would easily melt through anything you tried to use to block it. But obviously I didn't want to really risk hurting anyone during training, and also didn't feel like hurting _myself_ either. Even _**my**_ skin can't handle my strongest stuff for too long, and I could probably take a shower in the stuff you'd need full protective gear just to be near." She let out a giggle at the end.

"Oh my, I had no idea." Momo looked shocked, which was mirrored by most of the class. "T-thank you for telling me, Mina-san. I shall endeavor to not make any mistakes like that again!" She bowed to the pink girl.

Mina giggle, "Hey, we're friends! No need to bow! I'm just trying to look out for my buddy, right?" Momo gave her a positively _radiant_ smile in response.

" **An excellent show of restraint, young Ashido, and an excellent warning for the class! You just got yourself some extra points!** " All Might grinned at her.

Mina punched the sky with a beaming grin, "Yahooo! Thanks All Might!"

" **Let's get to the next match!** " The time limit he was under was beginning to frustrate All Might, by this point, even more than usual. Perhaps he would need to 'introduce' Toshinori as an alternate teacher for the classes. If he didn't, there was just no way he was going to be able to both pull this off as well as actually be a hero if classes always ran as long as this one. " **Hero Team D vs Villain Team J!** "

"Finally!" Katsuki let out a blood-thirsty grin as he clenched his fingers, small little crackles exploding off of him.

"Eep! I have to fight Explody Boy?" Ochaco squeaked momentarily. She shook herself and clapped her own cheeks, taking care not to let all her fingers touch, "We got this, right Iida-kun?"

"You do! Good luck, Uraraka-san!" Izuku tried to smile at her, getting one in return. Momo, Mina, and the rest of their group took turns wishing them well in the bout.

"You'll do great, Ochaco-chan! Kero." Tsu tried to help Ochaco stay hyped up.

Inasa sidled up to Iida and clapped him on the shoulder, leaning in and – for once – actually staying a bit quiet, "My man Izuku told me not to get involved… but I'm sure he can't complain if you give Bakugo a good kicking from the both of us."

"I don't approve of settling things here for him…" Iida also responded quietly, "But at the same time… I want to win!"

"My man!" Inasa grinned as they walked away, "So, what do you think, Izuku?"

"I must admit I'm quite curious as well. You analyzed the first fight perfectly." Momo smiled at her hopefully-new-friend, and the rest of them turned to him in curiosity.

"I… I'm not sure." Izuku admitted, before whipping his notebook out.

"Where was he keeping that?" Someone whisper-screamed, "I swear it just appeared in his hand!"

Izuku wasn't really paying attention anymore. He was rapidly going through and mumbling to himself as he read through the previous entries. "Aoyama-san seems like he would be a poor match for Kacchan in terms of personality… their egos are definitely going to clash… Iida-kun and Uraraka-san… way more utility… perhaps not enough combat power… Kacchan definitely the heaviest hitter, followed by Iida-kun…"

The rest of the class was again bemused as their apparent class cinnamon roll went on a tear with his mumbling. Some of them started to snigger as several of the other classmates turned to stare at the verdette incredulously as he hurriedly wrote in his notebook.

"Deku-kun?" Ochaco looked terribly confused.

"That's a _little_ creepy, Midoriya-chan." Tsu didn't hold back at all.

"Is this a habit of his, Yoarashi-san?" Momo looked puzzled but did have a little smile on her face at seeing someone else analyze something so well.

"Yeah, been trying to break him out of it buuuut…" Inasa chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

Mina laughed before she jumped onto his back and drove him from his motor mouthing, "While this is fun and all listening to you mumble along, how about you share with the rest of us!"

"Ah!" He squeaked in response, ' _To-Too close!_ ' his face reddened quickly, "R-right. Sorry again!" he shook his head as the rest told him not to worry, "I… I'm not sure exactly how things are going to go. By rights, Kacchan is the hardest hitter on the field, and one of the strongest in the class. However, neither him nor Aoyama-san are trackers and I imagine they'll have a hard time finding the bomb. Iida-kun is the fastest in the class – or at least the most consistently fast – and has the most stamina. Those bombs are light, and I could see him moving it around any time the heroes come close. Aoyama's **Naval Laser** is fairly limited, but powerful. However, we saw from the Quirk Apprehension Test that he's not exactly the strongest or most fit in the class, and he had pretty low stamina." He paused and stuck the middle phalange of his right index finger between his teeth for a moment, "Time is going to be the Hero Team's enemy here… and I think that may end up being true in more ways than one…"

Momo immediately realized what he was talking about, "Their personalities!" She exclaimed, "You think they're going to waste time arguing? That would be most unbefitting of heroes."

" **And yet something that is an unfortunate reality.** " All Might interrupted them with an approving grin. He was extremely happy to see them taking things so seriously, especially the MVP combo. " **Personalities and egos can clash in the field as it would in any other environment and can have disastrous results if not overcome. That is one of the reasons these trials you shall face will often be randomized. You need to get used to putting aside your differences for the mission.** "

"Thank you, All Might…" Izuku nodded to his mentor, before he winced. "I don't know if Aoyama-san is actually as arrogant as he acts, but I _know_ Kacchan is the real deal in that department. I know Kacchan and I know he wants nothing more than to be the top Hero. To surpass All Might. But because _everybody_ did nothing but sing his praises his entire life…"

Mina _groaned_ from her place still on his back. It immediately drew his attention to the fact she was still practically cuddling him, and he went rosy-red again as he felt two somethings pressing into his back, "Oh… he's one of _those_. They're going to be butting heads the entire time, aren't they?"

"Y-yeah." Izuku agreed, ' _She's so touchy-feely!_ ' He screamed in his own head for a moment, before concentrating on the upcoming match to force his face to not spontaneously combust. "However, his desire to win and be the best will definitely override it. Will it happen in time is the question?"

 **-]|[-**

It had been a very… _frustrating_ year for Katsuki Bakugo. Everything had seemed to go wrong ever since the Slime Incident. His place in U.A. had been assured from the moment he'd decided that he would follow All Might into his alma mater, and he had deemed himself the _only_ one worthy from their ratty middle school.

He had it all. The Quirk, the drive, the intelligence and work ethic… he _knew_ he was the only one who could possibly make it through the grueling examinations. And yet a pebble had decided to follow him. Quirkless, worthless _Deku_. No matter how many times he'd commanded it, Deku just _wouldn't give the fuck up_. The damn bastard had a death wish. In a society like theirs, to decide he would become a Hero _without a fucking Quirk_ was suicide.

And that was how it had started. Initially, he had only wanted to keep his friend safe from his own stupidity. He was Hero enough for the both of them. There was no reason for Izuku to throw his life away. But that bastard wouldn't give up, and eventually had started looking down on him. Offering _him_ help, rather than the other way around! The sheer _gall_ was enough to make his teeth grind.

And so, things between them had turned increasingly nasty, and yet Deku never fucking left him alone. And then the Slime Villain had shown up, and as if by magic so had Deku's Quirk. Quirkless, fucking USELESS Deku grew a fucking Quirk almost a decade past the normal cutoff point, despite _all fucking signs_ pointing to that having been impossible! And the fucking bastard had used it to _save_ **him** from that disgusting little shit!

Rage, humiliation, _betrayal_ … practically every negative emotion in existence had engulfed him that day and continued through the weekend. His parents had been even more annoying as he stewed until his confrontation with that Quirkless fuck. But it wasn't to be. It hadn't been a fluke, and fucking Deku had scored first blood in their skirmish near the lockers.

That had been the last time he'd antagonized Deku up until they met again for the Entrance Exam. No, he forced himself to calm and channeled his rage into much more constructive prospects… namely increasing his own strength and power. He'd trained himself to the fucking _bone_ to regain his place at the top. And once the Exams hit, he'd more than _doubled_ that bastard's combat score, and he'd _still fucking lost_. Fucking hero points! What the fuck were those? You saved people by beating the fucking Villains! If they couldn't even save themselves they had no place in U.A.! And yet because of them, fucking Deku had _again_ beaten him.

And the hits just kept on coming. Fine, so fucking Deku cheated to beat him with his fucking Hero points. He was still stronger and a better fighter! And then the Quirk Apprehension Test had come, and everything fell apart _again_! Deku could fucking _teleport_ , fucking Icy-Hot was a badass, that damn Windbag didn't even acknowledge his existence beyond a few glares and competed with fucking _Deku_ , and then fucking Ponytail blew _all_ of them out. Katsuki hadn't gotten first. He hadn't even gotten _second_. No, he'd fallen all the way to fucking FIFTH, and fucking Deku had beaten him again!

He was pulled from his thoughts when the fucking extra tagging along with him spoke, "So, mon ami, how shall we be beating them today? What is the plan?"

"Eh? Plan?" Katsuki snarled at him, "The fuck you talking about, French Fry? I'm going to fucking kill them and you're going to sit your pasty ass down and wait for me to win."

"Non, non, non." The damn ballerina had the gall to wag his finger in his face, "I must have my own chance to Sparkle." With that, he fucking _posed_ , something thatmade Katsuki's twitching even worse. "So, you may wait while I go and win!"

"Ehh? What the fuck did you say to me?" Katsuki got right in his face, "You better stay the fuck out of my way if you don't want to fucking die too!"

Aoyama adjusted his shades, "What a vulgar beast! Non, you stay out of my way!"

" **The hero team may enter!** " All Might's voice rang out.

"Ehh?" Katsuki startled, ' _Shitfuck, this asshole distracted me!_ ' He thought to himself, before whipping around and practically flying into the building.

Their Battle Site was a decommissioned metal foundry. Massive crucibles were suspended in the air and there were walkways and gangways everywhere. Rows upon rows of massive inert furnaces and rolling mills and presses lined the massive chamber.

Katsuki scowled angrily. "Shit, these bastards have plenty of places to hide the bomb!"

"Oui, such as inside the giant cups in the air." French Fry fucking _pranced_ past him and started looking around, "Shall we look inside of them?"

"I thought I fucking told you to stay out of it!" Katsuki snarled. Did every one of these fucking extras think they could speak to him like that? "And that's too fucking easy! There's no way they're dumb enough to hide it in places that have such shitty defenses. I can get inside all of them easily!"

"Exploding the bomb won't do us any favors." Aoyama shot back haughtily. Back at the main base, the rest of the class watched in growing derision and exasperation as the two began snipping at one another.

…

Even before the two heroes had begun arguing, the Villains been planning out their strategy. "Even if it's for training, I can't say I enjoy playing the Villain." Iida told Ochaco as they stared at the bomb.

Ochaco smiled a bit, "Don't be like that. You saw the other teams right? This is just a game. A serious game, but still just a game. We just have to pretend to be evil!" She tried to pump him up.

"Hmm, I suppose you're right." He took his helmet off to breathe for a moment. He probably should make some adjustments to it. He was getting hot inside it much faster than he'd expected, and it wasn't exactly sweltering today, "Yes, that's perfect for this training, even if I dislike it. Very well! Then we must also devote ourselves to being Villains! We must dye ourselves with the color of evil before becoming Heroes!" He put his helmet back on, and took on a growly voice, "We are… EXTREMELY EVIL!"

"Pffffff…" spittle flew in a spray from her lips as she tried to keep her composure, "Too-too much!" She started to laugh and laughed even harder at his crestfallen look.

"Was it that bad?" Iida looked a little bashful, if such a thing was even possible in full armor.

"No, no, you just caught me totally off guard. But I was thinking that we'd do an actual evil plan instead of just acting!" Ochaco denied, not wanting him to lose his energy. "We had a couple of examples from the others, but none of them were actually evil in deed! So, I got to thinking while we were watching, and even more so when I found out who we were facing!"

She paused, making sure she had his attention and put on a serious look, "We're at a serious disadvantage here. They have us beat at range because of Laser Boy; well… kind of… I may be able to do some things with my Quirk, but we're not looking to seriously injure them so I'm a bit hesitant. Anyway! They have us beat in range, but I'm pretty sure they have us beat close up too because of Explody Boy."

Iida didn't like it, but he conceded the point, "You're right." He forced out, "I may have been only one space behind him in our tests, but in terms of close combat I'd say his explosions give him the advantage in an enclosed area like this. I doubt I'd be able to get out of third gear in here. Too many sharp turns."

"Right! And while I could make those giant cups weightless and throw them, Explody Boy would probably just blow them up. We have to fight smart if we want to win!" She grew a small, devious little smile, "So why don't we try this…" As she spoke, Iida's eyes began to bug out.

…

"Fucking stop wasting my damn time, ya fake frog!" Katsuki turned around, so he missed his unwanted partner's eyes widening, only to eat a heavy metal greave right to the chest. Spittle flew from his mouth as he gasped, before his back smashed into Aoyama's armor and knocked the both of them to the ground, "You fucking tin can!" He rasped, his eyes bloodshot and furious as he held his arm out.

A massive explosion chased after Iida, who ran behind one of the furnaces and vanished back into the darkness. The explosion cracked the massive contraption and sent shards of it raining onto the floor. But as Aoyama cried out and rubbed his aching ears, it became clear that Iida was nowhere in sight. Katsuki's arms crackled with tiny explosions and he hauled himself back to his feet and exploded away, knocking Aoyama back even further.

The other blonde groaned as he got to his feet, trying to do _something_ to get his ears to stop ringing. He then started to look angry when he realized part of his cape had gotten burned from Katsuki's mini explosions. Glaring into the darkness, Aoyama got to his feet and put his arms behind his head. They needed more light, which his Quirk really was perfect for. And if he were honest with himself, if he happened to hit his partner he wouldn't feel too bad about it. Aoyama couldn't see anything clearly, so he followed the explosive flashes deeper into the Villain's base.

His formerly-shiny armor covered in some dark substance that they had found in the foundry, Iida watched from the shadows. When Aoyama started to fire into the darkness, he smiled, knowing their victory was already secured.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FIRING THAT FUCKING THING!" Katsuki roared into the darkness minutes later as he was forced to dodge one of his partner's haphazard beams.

"Hmph! I'm trying to light the way, so we may accomplish our objective!" Came from a spot to his right. "And your explosions aren't exactly easy on the ears! We're supposed to be partners, non?" Aoyama's frustrated voice shot back.

' _Do… do I even really need to do anything else?_ ' Their now hidden opponent thought to himself with a sweatdrop. They seemed quite happy being at each other's throats instead of doing their jobs. This argument had been going on for the past five minutes as Iida continued his guerilla tactics, leading the two farther into the foundry… and further from Uraraka and the bomb.

Iida had used the shadows to his advantage, up until Bakugo started using his Quirk at extremely low levels just for light. Once that happened, he had switched targets, and Aoyama now looked bruised and beyond frustrated at this point. He had started firing his laser indiscriminately, just trying to hit his opponent in an increasingly desperate fashion.

But it was also tiring Iida out. This was more like running continuous suicides – sprinting full bore up a steep hill – than a marathon. He was constantly popping in and out, stopping short, and having to dodge retaliation. He was really hoping that Ochaco would join him soon, otherwise he might actually get captured or injured despite his enemies' horrible teamwork.

He saw Katsuki standing in an open area and dashed forward but immediately realized he made a mistake when Katsuki whirled around, "Have you been having fun, you fucking tin can?" A massive explosion rang out, directly between them at Iida's feet, hitting before Iida could dodge. Iida was flung back and crashed into a crucible, cracking it and then slumping down. His armor had protected him from the blast, but the impact was jarring nonetheless.

Katsuki's arms both crackled as he charged forward, "Why don't you tell me where that bomb is, and I'll grant you a quick death!"

Iida let out a pained chuckle, "You're too late, Hero scum! We've already won!"

"Oh, is that so?" Katsuki's eyes were both twitching, "Then I suppose I'll have to fucking beat it out of you, bastard!"

But when he went to do just that, Bakugo was forced to dodge to the left as another beam shot past him and smashed into Iida's chest. The tall boy was shoved further into the crucible with a pained groan.

"What the fuck are you doing, you fucking fake frog? Were you trying to hit me?" The agitated exploding dandelion whirled around and roared at the flamboyant blonde.

Aoyama rubbed his bruised cheek, "Non, but I believe I owed him one too."

"I don't give a fuck! I thought I told you-" His eyes bugged out and he aimed his palm forward.

Realizing something was wrong Aoyama instantly turned to the right and jumped, firing his laser and sailing away. A second later the massive crucible plowed into the dirt where he had just been standing to shatter into an explosion of shards. Katsuki created an explosion to destroy the ones heading for him, but the rest peppered the area.

"You boys haven't forgotten about me, have you?" Ochaco had a big, fake pout on her lips as she casually hefted another massive crucible over her head. Anyone watching without knowledge of her Quirk would have been excused for having small heart attack at the sight. "You two played right into our hands. Were you even trying to win?"

"What the fuck did you say to me, Round Face?" Katsuki roared, eyes twitching and a massive vein bulging on his forehead, sweat pouring out of every pore. There were small crackles and pops sparking all over his body as his Quirk kicked into overdrive.

"I said…" Ochaco plastered her best evil, nasty grin onto her face as she watched Iida get away, "You've already lost, Heroes!" With that she threw the crucible at Katsuki and increased the gravity on the object the moment before it left her hands. The result was a very fast pitch on a massive object that weighed even more than it looked like it did.

"Will you fucking extras **STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME**!" The nearly apoplectic blonde roared as he adjusted his arm and reached with the other one, hooking his finger into a pin. He completely ignored the crackle of his earpiece coming on, as well as whatever All Might was saying over the line, and pulled the pin.

An utterly _titanic_ explosion shot from his gauntlets. It obliterated the oncoming projectile and continued forward, blasting through the walkway Ochaco had been throwing from – the girl had _thankfully_ made herself weightless and thrown herself away the second after she had thrown her crucible away – and right through the roof of the building. Shards of corrugated metal rained down on the dirt floors. Massive industrial chains clicked and clanged as the pressure waves rattled them. There was a snarling, grinding sound accompanied by the even louder screech of tortured metal as several walkways collapsed.

Slowly – so slowly the noise began to die out – the soot began to settle. The dust hung in the air and all of their coughs were the only noises in the building.

Then Ochaco's terrified voice rang out. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" She screeched, all semblance of thought on the lesson had been chased out by what could very well have been her certain death. She was pasty white and the grit that covered her and her costume made her look even paler. She was almost hyperventilating and her whole body was shaking. "THIS IS A CLASS!"

Katsuki coughed a few more times, "Where is that damn bomb, Round Face? Tell me now or I'll fucking kill you!"

" **You will do no such thing.** " All Might's voice was deadly serious, " **This match is over. The Villains win. Report back to the briefing area.** "

' _Wh-what?_ ' The words slowly penetrated inside his skull, "But there's still fucking time!" There was something bubbling inside his gut, and he very much did not enjoy it, ' _Deku won… and_ _ **I lost?**_ '

" **There may be, but I see no reason to continue this match now, Bakugo-shonen. Your opponents had a brilliant plan and put you in a no-win scenario, and that attack forced my hand. You lost. But you should not look at it that way. You can always come out ahead if you learn from the experience.** " All Might's voice sounded again, and this time from beside them. He had a hand on Ochaco's shoulder and a water bottle in hand.

Thankfully, the normally-bubbly girl was calming down after her brush with disaster. Her hands were still trembling, but her eyes didn't look so wild as she gratefully took the bottle from the Number One Hero. Katsuki did not look for his partner or Iida as he slowly dragged his feet out of the building. In fact, he didn't really even look up from the ground as his world took yet another beating.

 **-]|[-**

" **Before I give you all the floor, I have a few words to say as well.** " All Might's tone was subdued. He definitely did not sound as boisterous as he normally did, " **That was a disgraceful performance by the Hero team. Perhaps one of the worst I've ever seen.** "

Katsuki and Aoyama flinched at that as the rest of the class looked on in silence, shocked by how the fight had gone, even Izuku.

" **That bout was the perfect example for why we randomize these matches. You were right at each other's throats from before the match even started. Despite Aoyama-shonen's attempts, you did not even consider working with him and were determined to do everything on your own, Bakugo-shonen. Such a thing is unacceptable!** " Katsuki still was not looking up, but Aoyama was nearly in tears as they were berated by their teacher, " **Furthermore, the attack you used at the end was completely intolerable in every respect. Whether you're a Hero or a Villain, using massive, imprecise attacks like that indoors is a foolish idea. All you get is millions in property damage and a destroyed base that you risk having fall on your own head."**

All Might's voice hardened. **"And more importantly, you could have seriously maimed young Uraraka if you had hit her head on! Such an attack is FAR too dangerous to use on a comrade, especially in a** _ **training exercise**_ **!** " Still, Katsuki did not look up, and All Might's brows furrowed. He tried not to sigh but made a mental note to take a firmer hand with Katsuki going forward before turning to the class at large. " **I open the floor to you, young ones!** "

"I'm so happy you're safe, Uraraka-san. I was really worried when I saw that explosion." Izuku began and surprised himself by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Deku-kun…" Ochaco almost stammered when he did so, but instead returned a sunny smile to him, "Thank you." She replied earnestly.

"You and Iida were amazing!" Izuku gushed when he saw her smile, "Kacchan and Aoyama-san never even had a chance to win! What a brilliant plan! And your use of your Quirk was just awesome!"

She rubbed the back of her head in response, "Ehehehe…" Ochaco was still very shaken up from her brush with death but put on a happy face for the class. Before she could really reply though, another voice cut in.

"Kero, it was incredible. I never even thought of doing something like that. Which of you came up with the idea? Kero, kero." Tsuyu tapped her finger on her chin as she questioned her new friend.

"I still say it was cheating." Kirishima grumbled a bit, "Totally not manly."

The eye-rolls clearly showed that this was now a tired argument, "The two of them embraced their roles better than all of us." Tokoyami shot back, "Villains will do anything to win. You think they will care if you think they cheated?"

"It was you who came up with it, right Ochaco-chan?" Camie playfully knuckled the bubbly girl on the arm, "It was like, so lit! You guys totally knocked it out of the park!"

"So did Tenya over here!" Inasa laughed boisterously as he slung an arm around Iida's shoulder and nearly lifted him in the air despite his size and the added weight of his armor. "Those were some awesome kicks my man! You laid them out at the start like bowling pins! Wahahaha!"

"O-Of course!" Iida almost had sparkles around him at the praise, and a cheesy grin on his face, "We did what we had to, so we could win."

"What did they do?" The atmosphere changed as Katsuki spoke for the first time, "How did they _cheat?_ " His eyes were bloodshot as he looked up, and he looked a cross between despondent and teeth-grinding-into-dust furious, "How the fuck did they beat me?!"

Almost everyone in the class turned angry glares at the uncaring boy. As All Might made another mental note to talk with the rest of the faculty about the boy, Momo stepped up with a hard look on her face. She stood imperiously as she glared daggers at him, "Iida-san and Uraraka-san did nothing wrong or anything against the rules. They won fair and square. Stop trying to find an excuse for your failure!"

It came as no surprise to most of the class to see the heiress act like this. When that massive explosion had lit up the screens she had been almost beside herself with worry. The only one more worried had been Izuku, who had barely held back from teleporting away to make sure she was alright.

Katsuki did not even have a chance to snarl back at the bitch because All Might cut in, " **That's right. Young Uraraka and young Iida both embraced the spirit of the exercise. Observe!** " All Might declared and drew their attention by pointing to the screens. Katsuki's eye started to twitch as they watched.

 _Katsuki turned around, so he missed his unwanted partner's eyes widening, only to eat a heavy metal greave right to the chest. Spittle flew from his mouth as he gasped, before his back smashed into Aoyama's armor and knocked the both of them to the ground. What he yelled once he got his bearings was lost as there was no sound, but his eyes were bloodshot and furious as he aimed a massive explosion after Iida. Once he did that, he leapt into the air and ignited his arms, continuous blasts helping him mimic flight as he chased the other boy. As Aoyama got to his feet, he was clearly grumbling and rubbing his ears._

 _He looked angry when he realized part of his cape had gotten burned from Katsuki's mini explosions. After he shot a laser into the dark, he followed his partner deeper into the base. The dust settled as a second camera superimposed itself onto the screen, aimed at a dark part of the ceiling. Suddenly, a tarp was thrown away, revealing Ochaco hidden with the bomb. It was tied to the ceiling with industrial chains, while Ochaco sat on a metal beam. She had a blinding grin on her face as she collected the bomb and raced out of the building_. _She landed right near where Katsuki and Aoyama had been knocked down, bomb over her head, and then raced right out the door they had come in from. She looked like she could barely contain her giggles, and indeed had burst out laughing with glee the moment she was safely away._

"What the fuck?!" Katsuki exploded, "How was that _not_ cheating?" He roared indignantly.

"Ya shoulda looked up." Mina pulled her eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at him.

" **I never stated that you had to keep the bomb in the testing area.** " All Might grinned widely, " **In fact, I am ecstatic that at least one of you thought to try it. It is an important lesson for you to learn. Villains** _ **WILL**_ **cheat and do everything they can to win, as young Tokoyami said, and often they have a mobility advantage in that they set the pace of any combat.** " He chuckled, " **That said, that window is now closed. Uraraka-Shōjo shall be getting extra points for thinking of it however.** "

"This is bullshit!" Katsuki spat and started to stomp away. All Might's hand on his shoulder stopped him cold.

" **You have not been dismissed, young man. I do not wish to issue detention during my first class. Take your spot and observe, as you should have been for the other matches.** " Katsuki ground his teeth at the titan's words but did as he was told.

" **Let's move on to the next match!** " All Might was long-past starting to grow worried about how long these matches were taking, and whether or not he'd be able to last the full period. He moved things right along now, drawing more serious stares from his students, " **We have Villain Team E vs Hero Team I!** "

"Sweet! Looks like we're up!" Camie fist-bumped Sero.

At the same time, it was also _really_ hard not to pay attention to the tiny purple boy and his muttering. He had a dopey look on his face – practically drooling as he stared in his opponent's direction – and was wriggling his fingers in a disturbing manner. Practically everyone took a step back, then Tsuyu quickly whipped him with her tongue, again getting his head to bobble.

"Like, totally gross, dude." Camie sneered at him, unconsciously crossing her arms in front of her chest. Maybe she _should_ rethink her costume a bit?

" **Ahem…** " All Might had a sweatdrop as he stared at the boy, ' _ **I hope this one has more interest in being a hero then he's showing. If I were to guess he's just here for the girls. Such a shame…**_ ' His thoughts were mirrored by the other students, though they went further in speculating how the hell he even made it into U.A. in the first place. " **Proceed to your testing locations!** "

"Izuku-san, what do you think of this match?" Momo asked, "From what I remember, Todoroki-san came in fourth place behind you, Yoarashi-san, and myself; and he did so while showcasing a powerful Quirk. I'm not certain Utsushimi-san and Sero-san have the firepower to match him."

"Todoroki is going to win." Inasa answered instead. He had a flat look on his face as he eyed the monitors, disappointed he wouldn't get to fight Endeavor's son himself. "I took my entrance exam with him and a couple other recommended students. I won, but just barely. His skill is amazing. Nothing against the other team, but…"

He stopped talking, starting to sweatdrop along with the rest of them as Izuku had once again started mumbling up a storm. Things descended into hilarity as they noticed Momo had created a notebook of her own and was taking notes intently as she followed along with his words, her hand moving so fast as to be a blur as she tried to keep up with him. Several of them burst into laughter at the sight.

"Is this going to be a regular thing?" Mina snickered as she stared at them, bemusedly scratching her chin. She then reached over and flicked Izuku on the ear playfully. "Snap out of it Midori!"

"Ack!" Izuku groaned, "Sorry!" He shook himself, "Anyway, you're right that if this turns into a straight fight, Todoroki-san totally has the edge." He turned to stare at the monitor, his voice serious, "Which doesn't really give Utsushimi-san and Sero-san much incentive to fight him straight on, does it?" He grinned a little, "I think they have the tools to make this a closer match than you're expecting."

 **-]|[-**

"So, how we going to do this, big guy?" Mineta asked up at his partner, before again getting that perverted look on his face, "Can I fight Utsushimi-chan?"

"You should leave." Todoroki replied blandly. Unsaid was whether he meant the abandoned building or the Hero Course, "If you're in here, I can't guarantee your safety."

"What? No way! I made it here to the Hero Course too, you know?" Mineta sounded insulted. Left unsaid was that he wasn't actually in it for being a hero, but rather for the babes.

Todoroki touched the wall, "I'm sure they intend on fighting defensively… but that's useless against me." A sparkle of frost flowed from his fingers, and then the entire building started getting encased in a thick layer of ice.

"Wh-what the hell?!" Mineta yelled as he hopped to avoid getting his feet stuck, "That's too much, idiot!"

Todoroki's expression didn't change, "This match is already over. Just stay here." He deadpanned as he started walking up to where they had determined the bomb was.

"No way!" A light bulb went off in Mineta's head, and his perverted grin returned, ' _Maybe I'll be able to see_ _ **them**_ _poking out in this cold!_ ' he pulled some of his purple balls from his scalp and started scaling the wall behind Todoroki like some bargain-bin Spiderman.

Todoroki pushed the door open, smiling lightly when he saw both of his opponents frozen up to the knees in defensive positions in front of the bomb. "You can try to fight, I suppose, but you won't get very far with your feet frozen to the floor. Be grateful you're not barefoot."

He walked past them and touched the bomb, "Sorry… but the difference in strength was too great." He quirked an eyebrow when he realized he did not hear their victory announcement. Had he accidentally frozen the loudspeakers? He tried to remove his hand from the bomb, and his mind started firing a mile a minute when it became clear his hand was stuck.

His eyes bulged when the bomb basically evaporated away, revealing a set of stacked crates with a thick layer of double-sided tape glued to it like a giant flytrap. And he had gotten himself caught right away. He whirled around, thanking himself for using his left hand to touch it rather than his right, but ate a roundhouse kick right to the face because of it. "Gack!" he groaned as he felt blood start pouring from his broken nose, and the recoil had thrown him further into the crates and gotten him even more stuck onto them. Stars swam in his vision as the pain hit him.

"Sorry, hot stuff!" Camie landed, grinning like the cat that had eaten the canary, "But if you think I'ma let you win just cuz you're hot, then you really are lit!" She quickly got out of the way as more tape shot from Sero's elbows and wrapped him tight to the trap.

' _You talked a big game, asshole, and look at you now!_ ' Mineta inwardly cheered a bit from his hiding place on the ceiling behind the doorway, ' _Now it's up to_ me! _And I'm going to win! And if I get a squeeze in, all the better!_ ' He somersaulted into the room from his place on the ceiling and dove for Camie – ostensibly because she was the better fighter and in better shape and he should be taking the stronger fighter out first, but really because he wanted to get closer to those oppai – trying to get his balls on her. "Take this! **Grape Ru-** "

Came cartwheeled out of the way – mentally thanking Sero for laying out a bed of one-sided plain tape on the floor before she went after Todoroki so that they would have footing on the ice – and closed the distance with the disgusting grape boy as soon as he landed. She did not feel even _slightly_ bad about kicking him right in his creepy diaper, before slapping him clean across the face hard enough to leave a handprint. She huffed, having clearly recognized the motions the boy had been making with his fingers as he stared at her.

Sero clapped a hand to his face as he threw the Capture Tape at the boy like a bola, wrapping the grape up tightly, "Making the rest of us guys look bad, grape boy." He mumbled. He turned to grin at Camie, "Great plan!" He gave her a high five, which got her grinning and giving him a peace sign as well.

"You should have used that Capture Tape on me!" Their jubilation was interrupted as Todoroki's head stopped swimming and he got his bearings once more. His rage exploded as he took in the way they had made a fool out of him, and with his rage came his ice. _A lot_ of ice.

"Oh shi-" their exclamations were cut off.

Todoroki panted for a moment, a slightly _mad_ glint in his eyes, before it vanished and was replaced with confusion, and then it cleared into outright horror as he took in what he had done. His Quirk fired into overdrive as he started heating his surroundings up, desperately trying to thaw out the room.

"…" The intercom sparked once it was all over, and All Might did _not_ sound pleased, " **This exercise is over. Thaw them out and report back immediately.** " Thankfully he had been on that even before All Might said anything.

Camie let out a pained wheeze as she fell from the wall she had been pressed up against, clutching her ribs as the ice melted away. Todoroki looked a little shell-shocked and incredibly disappointed with himself. She fell to her knees, trying to breathe, but it hurt. It hurt **really** badly. Sero wasn't much better off. He was quivering like a leaf, his teeth chattering away. Todoroki was still stuck to the crate, so he couldn't even move to go help them, "I…"

"Need to learn to control your emotions!" Recovery Girl spat out as she was lowered by All Might. She may have already been on standby, but All Might had rushed to her anyway, grabbed her, and rushed all the way therein the time it took Todoroki to melt his ice. It was something that in other circumstances would have had the class in awe, because that ice melted _unnaturally_ fast with his Quirk. Now though they were just worried for their friends, watching on the CCTV as the Healing Heroine hurried over to the young woman and extended her lips, pressing them to Camie's chest.

The girl let out a relieved gasp as her ribs healed and she was able to breathe once more. All that was left was a dull ache. "T-thanks, RG."

" **Are you alright, Utsushimi-Shōjo?** " All Might asked, kneeling down and patting her on the shoulder.

"Y-yeah," She let out a little cough, "I'm okay now." She wobbled a bit, "Whoa, why am I, like, so tired now?"

"It's the way my Quirk works." Recovery Girl patted her shoulder reassuringly, "Make sure you have a big meal and get lots of rest tonight, okay?" She got a nod, "Good girl. Off you go."

" **Excellent!** " All Might boomed, forcing his smile back on his face, " **And yourself, young Sero?** " He got some nods from the boy as he gathered Mineta – who had not escaped the ice either and needed his own kiss from Recovery Girl – up himself, " **You did an excellent job. Run back to the main building now.** " He tore Mineta's bindings off, " **I will be back momentarily.** " The two adults spent the next minute or two freeing Todoroki from the trap and fixing his broken nose. Once they were all gone – Todoroki leaving last, his head bowed in shame – he turned to the healer, " **Thank you, Chiyo.** "

"You nearly gave me a heart attack when you showed up and grabbed me!" Chiyo groused at him, "But you were right to do so. Utsushimi-san had multiple broken ribs. It's a miracle that wasn't a lot more serious! They could have dislodged and pierced her organs!"

" **Yes, that was dangerous.** " All Might groaned a bit, " **It's a pity none of them have healing Quirks. We could always use more medics.** " He answered back softly, " **I'll have to keep a closer eye on them. I should have declared young Todoroki out during the exercise when he was incapacitated.** "

"I'll want to see them all now, after their matches." Chiyo replied, "And I want copies of the tapes as well, just in case I missed something. Now go. You're wasting too much time as it is. I can get back on my own… though frankly, I should just stick close. Honestly. This place gets more dangerous by the year…" She continued to grumble as she slowly walked out of the building.

 **-]|[-**

" **Before I share my own thoughts, I will allow you all to give me your opinions first.** " All Might said quietly, chilling the room when they realized he was not smiling like normal.

With how Todoroki acted both before and during the match, Inasa would have excused himself for feeling a bit of spiteful pleasure at seeing him fall flat on his face. He always tried to not be that kind of person, but Todoroki and his Pro Hero father just had that way of pushing buttons he didn't even know he had. Even despite that, he couldn't bring himself to feel _any_ sort of vindictive glee at seeing Todoroki with egg on his face. He only felt extreme relief that his classmates were safe and not critically injured. Plus, the fact that Todoroki himself looked a little shell-shocked and disgusted with himself was a point in his favor. He shook his head, "I'm just glad Sero and Camie are safe. That was disgusting."

Izuku nodded, "That was way too scary and I'm glad it turned out okay. As far as I'm concerned, Utsushimi-san and Sero-san won the bout. I noticed a winner was not called out."

"Indeed." Momo had a hard look on her face as she stood by Izuku, her hands clenching and unclenching as she dealt with unaccustomed anger. "Todoroki-san wrecked the building and badly injured not only his opponents, but also caught Mineta-san in the crossfire and even destroyed the bomb the Villains had suspended from the ceiling in a totally different room! In the real world, such behavior would never fly. A massive attack like that indoors is no good for _either_ side. We JUST saw that in the match before theirs, so it was even more egregious!"

"I concur!" Iida chopped his hands wildly, "That was disgraceful behavior from both members of the Hero Team. Todoroki-san came in over-confident of his own victory and was badly rattled by the Villain Team's counterattack to the point that he forgot any semblance of self-control. Mineta-san not only ignored the easier takedown of Sero-san – who he could have gotten the drop on since he was closer to the door – but was clearly acting on… ahem… _personal_ motivations."

"He also announced his presence like an idiot, kero." Tsuyu chimed in.

"Hey!" Mineta chimed in, feeling attacked, "I thought Utsushimi-chan-"

"Never call me 'chan' again." Camie interrupted in a scary tone, using her Quirk to give herself glowing eyes of doom, with her maw open and fangs bared.

"Eeep!" Mineta flinched, "R-right. I thought Utsushimi…-san was the better fighter and prioritized taking her down with a surprise attack!"

"And if you had been quiet, you could have taken out Sero-san before Utsushimi-san even knew you were there." Ochaco of all people countered him. Not a single person in the room was buying what he was selling. He had _clearly_ tunnel vision-ed on Camie.

" **Excellent analysis, all of you.** " All Might nodded along, grinning widely once more, " **And correct on all points. The Villain team will claim this victory, with young Utsushimi as the MVP!** "

"Boom shakalaka!" Camie cheered, fist pumping in excitement. Or at least as much as her exhaustion allowed her to do so. Her next move was a tired yawn.

" **Her plan was well thought out and executed nearly flawlessly. Her team's only mistake was disregarding the Capture Tape until they had beaten Mineta-shonen. They should have used it immediately on young Todoroki. Todoroki's final attack was exceedingly dangerous and could have turned out a lot worse. He froze not only his enemies but also his teammate and destroyed the bomb."**

All Might sighed. **"And though it may seem like beating a dead horse, I must reiterate; Massive attacks like that indoors are awful ideas – as young Yaoyorozu claimed – and are easy ways for either a Hero OR a Villain to end up with a destroyed stronghold! …And let me tell you, the property damage bills are** _ **not**_ **pretty. Instead, for this exercise, you shall lose a massive amount of points.** "

He let out another explosive sigh, " **However, part of the blame lies with me. I should have declared Todoroki-shonen out of the exercise once he was fully wrapped to the crate. In the real world, that could have been an easy way to end up with a knife in the throat.** " The room stiffened, " **Remember that while you're training for it, out in the field is a different world. Villains…** _ **real**_ **Villains often do not hesitate to kill or cripple. This is a rewarding profession in very many ways, but it is a dangerous one. Never forget that.** "

At this point he chose not to reiterate what had already been said about Mineta – since it would be flogging said dead horse – and instead decided to make his point very clear to the second problem child here. The one whose actions had nearly made him a murderer. " **I will not do this often, but Todoroki-shonen shall owe me three pages on what he did wrong, as well as an apology to his classmates. And that's on top of whatever Aizawa-sensei decides to punish you with.** "

"Yes sir." Todoroki said dully, his head still bowed in shame.

This actually gave All might some hope that at least in his case, his words were getting through. He nodded, pasting a smile on his face as he turned back to the class. " **With all that said… It's time for the final match! Team G as the Heroes vs Team H the Villains!"**

"Wahahaha! Saved the best for last, eh?" Inasa beamed as he hooked an arm around Tokoyami's shoulder, "I look forward to facing ya, bud."

Tokoyami looked fierce as he met Inasa's challenge, "I confess I am looking forward to testing my mettle against you, number two."

"Ehh, more like number three." Izuku would never have dreamed of being able to tease anyone a year ago. As Inasa laughed, Izuku smiled gleefully at the thought that he really had friends. Sometimes it still felt like a dream.

"Ohoho, someone's looking for a rematch!" Inasa smirked at him, "I look forward to it, but for now, I have to pay attention to my own opponents! Let's go!"

As they left, Mina surprised the rest of the class by being the first to analyze the matchup, "I think both teams have some powerhouses!" She said cheerfully, "Inasa obviously has an extremely strong Quirk, but so does Tokoyami. I feel kind of bad for saying it, but I don't know that Kōda or Shōji could do much against either of the other two. Shōji is really, _really_ strong but we haven't seen any ranged stuff from him. Kōda is strong too, but he also seems super shy and… I don't know… I kinda can't see him punching anyone."

"While I agree, I do think Kōda-san will be invaluable for recon." Momo countered, "From what little I know of his Quirk, he'll be able to locate the bomb quickly and easily."

"I agree!" Iida – still looking dinged up and dirty from his own excursion – interjected, chopping his hands down firmly, "Kōda-san will be able to make use of his animal friends to locate the bomb quite quickly! Therefore, I believe that trying to hide it is a wasted endeavor! I think that the Villain's best shot is a straight fight! They should place the bomb in a defended but open location and choose their own battlefield."

Ochaco rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "I kinda hate to say it because it feels too mean, but the Villain team should probably try to knock Kōda-kun out early. Hopefully Yoarashi-kun will be able to defend him."

"I feel bad for picking on Kōda-san too, but you're right that he doesn't seem the type that would hurt a fly." Kyōka twirled one of her headphone jacks, "If I were him, I would let Inasa-san be the big brash distraction after they find the bomb, and then go all ninja for the bomb."

"Well we'll see in a minute." Izuku grinned, his notebook out and ready to go, not noticing that Momo was holding a similar one from earlier when she had been copying his mutters. "They're about to start!"

 **-]|[-**

"Whoaaa, you found the bomb already? It hasn't even been a minute!" Inasa cheered as he watched a couple little mice 'report' to his partner.

Kōda quickly jotted down another note on his pad, " _The bomb is in the basement. There's only one entrance. They have it barricaded and are guarding the way._ "

"Yahoo! Are you ready for this, my man? Let's goooo!" he cheered. Kōda was sweating heavily as he nodded rapidly. When Inasa took off and flew quickly to the target, little sweatdrops almost sprinkled off him as he panicked momentarily, before racing to catch up.

Unfortunately for him, the other team had planned well. The area leading to the bomb was engulfed in a deep darkness. In fact, it was the optimal level of darkness for Tokoyami's Quirk – Dark Shadow – to be at the highest amount of power he could handle while still keeping near-perfect control. They were confident in being able to handle Inasa. Which meant Shōji – once they determined that Kōda's scouts were gone – went to lay a trap for the shy boy.

As soon as Kōda entered the building – nearly thirty seconds after his partner rushed in – Shōji dropped in behind him and put him in a chokehold, "My apologies, Kōda-san." Even as he said this, he had to add another two tentacles because Kōda really was physically strong. One of his tentacles grew a mouth so he could speak, "This is nothing personal, but we must defeat you." Kōda struggled some more, before another set of hands wrapped the Capture Tape around him.

" **Kōji Kōda has been eliminated!** **Please exit the building!** " Kōda trembled momentarily as All Might's voice rang in the building, before his head hung dejectedly.

Shōji put his hand on Kōda's shoulder speaking up more than he normally would to help his fellow silent giant. "Do not be dejected, Kōda-san. You will have other opportunities to show your strength! Stand proud, for your reconnaissance abilities are second to none. I think I'm one of the few in the class physically stronger than you. You did your part as well as you could. Your team just should have planned more." But he had no more time to waste, so he raced back into the darkness. Kōda let out a nearly silent sigh as he walked back out, but at least his head wasn't hung so low.

…

Elsewhere in the building the message, " **Kōji Kōda has been eliminated!** **Please exit the building!** " rang out.

"What!" Inasa gasped as he heard the statement. "But how?!" He had just rushed into the battle area and saw Tokoyami waiting patiently.

Tokoyami let out a dark chuckle, "So, I did have you read correctly, _Hero_." The bird-man spat, "Such a pity that you left your partner behind. I would have liked to have another one for **Dark Shadow** to _play_ with." A dark shadow vaguely shaped like him started to rise.

The words hit Inasa a bit hard. He _had_ inadvertently abandoned his partner, and it gave him a bit of a nasty feeling. ' _Damn you would think after the previous matches I would have learned! Teamwork man! Ugh._ '

Still, he ground his teeth together and pasted on a smile, "I will rescue him once I'm done here, Villain! You won't win! Bring it!" A whirlwind rose around him, but there was really nothing for him to pick up. They had done their homework well. The entire room was empty of anything for him to use and with **Dark Shadow** they had been able to barricade the basement entrance behind Tokoyami from the inside.

"If there's anything left of him to save." Tokoyami let out a dark laugh, angering Inasa, "Enough playtime. Go, **Dark Shadow**!"

The shadow monster roared, " **Got it!** " It raced out, arms huge and looking to crush Inasa against the wall.

" **Wind Barrier**!" Inasa's whirlwind kicked into high gear, forming a dervish around his body. Dust from all around the room kicked up, flying away from him. Dark Shadow raced forward and crashed into him, but his shield deflected the attack wide to the right. Dark Shadow smashed into the wall and pulverized it, letting a very tiny amount of light from the hallway in.

"Did you think it would be that easy?" Inasa grinned, " **Tornado Shot!** " He yelled and punched forward. The whirling tides of wind that had formed around his arm barreled towards his enemy, howling like its name.

"Damn!" Tokoyami flung himself away, growling once the attack blew a hole in the wall and started letting in actual light from outside into the building. Already he could feel a bit of **Dark Shadow's** power decrease. "Go!" He yelled, and his Quirk obeyed. It grew to very large size, before trying to clap its massive hands around Inasa.

But again, the **Wind Barrier** technique rebuffed his efforts. His arms couldn't close all the way, and a real hand would have been getting shredded by the winds. "Not going to work, Villain!" Inasa laughed, before letting his winds explode outwards and knocking the hands away.

For a moment, Inasa wasn't covered by any airstreams, and that was when Shōji struck. Inasa's instincts screamed at him to move – the barest whisper of disturbed air alerting him – and he flung himself wide right as Shōji's massive fist passed where his head had been.

"Oho, we've got a party now! Let's go!" He dashed towards Shōji, the air churning around his body as he spun – much as he had during the Quirk Apprehension Test – and the multi-limbed boy groaned as he felt part of his costume get _shredded_ as he dove out of the way.

"Tokoyami!" He formed a mouth on one of his tentacles, "We need to corral him! Use **Dark Shadow** to force him into a corner so I can take him out!"

"Stare into the abyss!" Tokoyami yelled as he forced Dark Shadow to maximum size, trying to box their opponent in.

"Your little buddy is smaller than he was a minute ago!" Inasa was audibly smirking as he took that fact in. His eyes went to the small hole letting sunlight in, "What, you don't like a little light? You're going to hate this then!" He threw a fist upwards and the winds howled. The sound of crumbling stone and shrieking metal rang through the air as Inasa tore a large hole directly through the ceiling, "Nothing more fiery than the sun!" he yelled as **Dark Shadow** started to hiss as it was hit by the sunlight. The monster shrunk down and shrunk back toward Tokoyami, its confidence gone.

"No!" Shōji dove for Inasa, hoping that he could get just one limb on the man, but Inasa was too fast.

He blurred out of the way with a shriek of wind, before burying a fist into Shōji's midsection, "Guah!" The masked boy groaned as he was flung away, spinning like a horizontal top before crashing into the wall. He slumped down and did not move again, except to clutch himself in pain, on his knees and one forearm.

"You negated our strengths with your tactics and immediately sussed out my Quirk's weakness." Tokoyami bit back a groan, "You're too good."

"Wahahaha! I have to thank my man for that! I never would have thought of something like that before I met him." He rose into the air, "Surrender Villain!"

Tokoyami smiled, "Plus Ultra!" Dark Shadow shot forward once more, much smaller and less angry than he had been in the earlier parts of the fight but still game.

"That's what I'm talking about! Show me that hot-blooded passion, Tokoyami!" And seeing as his opponent had dispensed with the role play, he did the same. He formed a wall of wind that rebuffed his opponent.

"Hrmph!" Tokoyami huffed, "Your Quirk is too strong by half. You have amazing defense and amazing offense, both at range and up close" He smiled again, "I must thank you, Yoarashi. I don't quite think I would have thought of trying something like this if I hadn't been facing you. **Dark Shadow**! Return!"

" **Got it!** " Dark Shadow spoke again as he returned to the bird-headed student. " **What's the plan?** "

"Cover me! I shall be the one who shall embrace the abyss!" Tokoyami used a low tone, and **Dark Shadow** saw what he wanted to try through their bond. The monster writhed, before engulfing Tokoyami. It formed what amounted to a second skin on top of Tokoyami, acting like a suit of armor around his upper body, " **Tenebrous Abyss Body!** "

Inasa had a blinding grin on his face, "That's what I'm talking about! Did you just invent a new move on the fly? Way too hot blooded! You're definitely hanging out with us!" His body was once again engulfed with a dervish, "That's too much of a mouthful though! Wahahaha!" he shot forward. Tokoyami mirrored him, and Inasa stopped short and launched into the air to dodge a massive claw swipe. Enhanced by **Dark Shadow** , Tokoyami gouged out the floor, leaving long, deadly-looking marks on the pavement.

Inasa's wind shuffled him around, pushing him with almost jerky movements until he was behind his opponent. Tokoyami whirled around to try to stop him, but Inasa was still just too fast. He took Tokoyami's legs out from under him and while the dark boy floated, he launched a two-handed **Tornado Shot** at him. The winds howled, drowning out Tokoyami's groan of pain. Tokoyami slammed into the wall, spiderweb cracks forming upon impact along with small little strips of paint shredding off the structure from the gusts. The darkness-loving boy landed right by Shōji and struggled to get up.

"Sorry buddy, but you're too new to that move! We'll fight again soon!" Inasa promised, before he raced downstairs to the barricaded door and opened it easily. The bomb sat right where Kōda said it would be. He put his hand on it and smiled as All Might declared the Heroes the winners of the exercise.

 **-]|[-**

" **Excellent work, you four!** " All Might beamed at his newly-healed students as they walked back into the viewing area, " **You all did phenomenally!** "

Kōda clearly did not agree and was staring at the floor but All Might put a hand on his shoulder, " **None of that, young one. I said you** _ **all**_ **did phenomenally, and that most certainly includes you. Remember that not every Hero has to throw a punch. You proved your prowess by finding that bomb. Your abilities would be invaluable for search and rescue as well as locating hostages! You did your job!** " Kōda started tearing up and started nodding mutely. All Might's grin turned a little sheepish, " **But I've gotten ahead of myself. What say you?** "

Izuku raised his hand first and shot an apologetic look at his friend before speaking, "Inasa was obviously the MVP, but I can only say that because he beat both of the Villains and secured the weapon. He stopped to chat with his opponent and wasted valuable time that he wouldn't have been able to waste in a real situation."

Momo nodded seriously, "He also rushed ahead as soon as his partner located the bomb, and that led to Kōda-san getting captured with him none the wiser. By contrast, the Villains had a brilliant plan that was only foiled by being outclassed by their opponent's abilities."

Then Iida chopped forward, "Not only that, but even though he seemed to break character once Yoarashi-san displayed his strength, Tokoyami still took the opportunity to grow! That move he used was clearly unpracticed from what I saw. Did you come up with it on the fly, Tokoyami-san?"

"I did." Tokoyami rumbled in satisfaction, a smile on his face, "I call it **Tenebrous Abyss Body.** "

Crickets.

Mina snickered, "That's too much of a mouthful, ya Chūnibyō! Can you imagine yelling that out in a real fight?"

"That's what I said!" Inasa cackled for a moment, not at all bothered by the criticism. That was how someone improved, right? They were right. He had made mistakes in that match, and he looked forward to correcting them.

Tokoyami – meanwhile – was stewing slightly as he took in the friendly ribbing over his naming skills. Finally, he raised his voice a bit, "Oh fine! Is **Black Ankh** better?" A vein twitched slightly above his right eye.

"Loads better!" Mina cheered excitedly, "That's a really cool one! Come up with a few more and you have a naming scheme!"

" **Excellent work, all of you!** " All Might was rapidly feeling his limit approaching like a runaway train, and knew he needed to get away, " **You all performed wonderfully and there were no injuries that couldn't be fixed. All of you should look at this as a success and learn from both victory as well as failure. In fact, losing is one of the most important things you can do in these simulations, because you learn about your limits and find ways of overcoming them!** "

Most everyone in the class cheered, though a few muttered that they were "almost letdown" by such a straightforward lesson, after all the twists and turns of Aizawa's lesson.

" **Hahaha!** " All Might laughed boisterously, " **You were told weren't you? How we run our classes is our prerogative as teachers here at U.A. All of you may change out of your costumes and return to your homeroom! Now, watch closely as you see how a Hero exits a situation! All Might, AWAY!** " And with that, All Might stood still.

"Uhh… didn't he say he was leaving?" Mina asked in confusion.

And then the after-image All Might left behind disappated, making Mina squeak in shock, "Holy shit he's that fast!? How did he even get out of the door? It's still closed!"

"Such language is unbecoming of U.A. students!" Iida chopped his hands.

"Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud!" Mina giggled as she stuck her hands behind her head. The students gradually started to trickle out into the sunlight as light bickering sounded from the group.

"Uhh, everyone! I know we were already dismissed, but if we could have your attention please!" Izuku's voice was a little shaky, but everyone (well, mostly) looked to him. Izuku smiled at Iida, "Would you like to lead off? I know you had something to say too, Iida-kun."

"Of course, thank you Midoriya-kun!" Iida had his helmet off and coughed before adjusting his glasses and speaking, "I feel the need to emphasize that we **all** need to improve our teamwork! As you all saw and experienced, the teams who performed the worst were the ones made up of people who tried to do everything on their own. Some of you are already aware, but my big brother is the Pro Hero Ingenium!"

He allowed the small wave of awe from those who weren't aware to wash over him before continuing. "And teamwork has always been something he – and my parents likewise – emphasized when they had the time to teach me. I never quite fully understood what he meant until today. All fifty of the Heroes, sidekicks, and interns at his agency have that ideal drilled into them. A single Hero on their own can be taken out by well-prepared Villains. One of us can never be as strong as all of us."

Izuku smiled at all of them, "T-that's right. But teamwork is only one half of the equation! Individual strengths are important too. Sorry for using you as an example Kōda-kun, but with your gentle temperament and apparent aversion to violence, I am quite curious as to why you followed Inasa into the building? A far better use of your abilities would have been to flood the area with rats and have them distract the Villains instead."

Several of the girls shivered in disgust, with Hagakure even yelling at him for putting the idea in her head, but for once Izuku didn't flinch at being the object of such negative attention, instead standing his ground. "We have to remember to play to our strengths. Not everyone is suited for – or even interested in – direct combat or stealth and reconnaissance or rescue. That is why proper planning is also key to accomplishing our goals!"

"That's right!" Momo nodded and put her hands on her hips as she added her own two yen. "And perhaps most importantly, we all have to leave our egos at the door. Full stop. Several matches were lost because of poor attitude. We're here to be Heroes! To help people and save lives! Nothing else matters in the face of that. _Not_ our own personal glory or rankings!"

At that she shot a slight glare at Todoroki – who looked pensive – and then Bakugo – who was stewing and looked to be paying them about as much attention as he would afford a rock, making her glower momentarily – before she relaxed and smiled at them all, "We have to learn from these failures – not only our own but those of our peers as well – so that we can move past them and not make the same mistakes a second time. We're all here with the same goal! We have to start from the bottom and work up. If we can't move forward and earnestly cheer each other on, we'll never be top Heroes. Thanks for listening." She bowed, which Iida and Izuku mirrored.

After that, almost everyone cheered or applauded. "S-so manly!" Kirishima crowed, crying manly tears again while holding a shaking fist in front of his face, causing Momo to sweatdrop.

After that, gradually, everyone started walking away. The group that they had formed that morning ended up walking together and talking, with Inasa pulling Tokoyami in as well despite his half-hearted protests. The group slowly started coming up with ideas for their study group, the fading voices eventually leaving the faux city silent.

…

Katsuki was one of the last to start moving. He hadn't moved much at all since his loss was explained. He hadn't really been listening much to the other students either, too lost in his own thoughts. His fists were clenched tightly, and his teeth were grinding. All his life, he'd been told how he had an amazing Quirk. How he was the best around. And he had believed it wholeheartedly and with passion, forming almost his entire personality off of it.

And now his world was practically crashing all around him. The sheer power of Half-n-Half's Quirk…and the fact he still got nearly crushed by weaker opponents despite it. Then there was that damn **Whirlwind** bastard. His Quirk was equally as powerful, and he had singlehandedly done what Katsuki himself should have done; crushed his opponents and won.

But worst of all was Deku. That damned pebble suddenly seemed like a mountain in front of him. They had been kept apart so Katsuki had not been able to beat his ass directly, but the simple fact was that Deku had won his match and Katsuki had lost. Deku had done something he couldn't do. And that meant that Deku had been better than him.

For someone who had been told he was the best his entire life… this entire day had been one crushing defeat after another. And that was after the crushing defeat of the previous day. He wasn't the best in the class. He wasn't even top three. As far as he was concerned that meant he was at the bottom of the barrel…. He ground his teeth and stalked away, nearly breaking a tooth from his gnashing. This couldn't go on. He had to be better. He had to be stronger. He had to be faster.

And if he took anything away from what the extras were saying… it was that he had to be smarter too.

 **-]|[-**

All Might had barely closed the door of the staff lounge when smoke exploded from his form. Once it cleared, he was revealed resting his hands on his wobbly knees and gasping for breath, "I could barely even last the whole class!" Even as he panted, his mind was firing a mile a second, ' _The most inflated egos are often the most fragile. As his teacher I have to counsel Bakugo-shonen, but perhaps punishment is also warranted. That kind of attack…_ '

"You are the height of irrationality." Aizawa's voice cut across his musing.

Toshinori started to chuckle, "I suppose I've heard that one before." He straightened up, "I think I will have to seriously consider revealing this form as an alternate teacher. There's just no way I will be able to keep this up as well as perform my duties as the Top Hero like this."

"Your duty is to the students now." Aizawa sipped at his juice, "Remember that." He eyed the deflated Hero seriously, "How did they do?"

"Well." Toshinori smiled as he took his seat near the other Pro Hero, "Very well, in fact. I am quite proud of them." He paused, and his smile became a little strained, "Well… for the most part. Some of them will definitely need extra... guidance."

Aizawa's gaze sharpened, "I'm not going to like what I see in some of these reels, am I?"

Toshinori almost shrunk away from the sudden menace wafting from his fellow teacher, "No… I don't suppose you are."

 **-]|[-**

 **And waBAM! I hope you all enjoyed, and I hope that the wait was worth it!**

 **Damn but does it feel good to actually get a chapter of** _ **something**_ **out again. I just had the worst writers block for goddamn months. I would plan and plan and plan and then just stare at the screen like durrrrr whenever it came time to actually put words down. It's fucking sucked.**

 **I'd like to give a huge shout out to** **Vimesenthusiast. He's helped me a bunch with this story as well as others. Give their works a read. He's also written some of my favorite stories on this website. I'd like to give another huge shout out to Thanathos. They've been a regular sounding board for over two years at this point.**

 **As mentioned, I do have a new job and that DOES unfortunately mean I don't quite have the time anymore to do massive 5k word nights for my stories on the regular. When I have the motivation and the time I can usually churn massive chapters like this out in like three weeks or less if I can keep pace each night. Unfortunately, that doesn't look like its going to happen anymore.**

 **-]|[-**

 **Now before I leave you all, I do have some ideas I'd like to share and get opinions on. I may end up doing a couple one-shots if I have the time.**

 **So the idea here is that Izuku puts his brain to use after totally shredding his arm during the Entrance Exams. It seems quite silly to me that – after being so good at analyzing other people's Quirks – he would fail so hilariously to analyze his own. Especially when he still has the previous owner he can ask questions to. So basically, Izuku sits down with All Might when he has the chance to ask some very directed questions about the Quirk and how** _ **he**_ **feels when he's using it. This leads to him developing Full Cowl early (maybe at like 3%) before the school year actually starts. In addition, he starts asking All Might about why he's never heard of any of All Might's predecessors or anyone using One For All the way he did, and All Might mentions that not all users used it the same way because they had their own Quirks too. He then decides that he's going to try something new and concentrates the energy at a point in front of his finger. Yeah, it's Spirit Gun time baby.**

 **The second idea isn't really that much of one. Basically, it's an Izuku who decides early on that he's tired of being treated like a doormat and starts fighting back. And off of nothing but his own guts and determination, he basically becomes a bit of an early-Bleach Ichigo Kurosaki or Yusuke Urameshi type character.**

 **Yeah I'm a huge Yu Yu Hakusho fan. Sue me.  
**

**This one could MAYBE be a combination of both of the previous ideas with this third one: Fem-Kacchan gets saved from the slime Villain by Izuku per canon, and it all comes to a boil when she confronts him. She couldn't bear the thought of him dying, blah, blah, blah. All Might watches/listens, unable to really get Izuku alone, and then he just leaves when they start making out. He tries again later, but the two of them are now basically glued at the hip with Kacchan saying, "If you really are never going to give up, then I'm going to make sure you can't fucking die on me!" And they become training partners. All Might kinda just laughs to himself as she's doing his work for him and decides – when she sees them doing some ineffective training – to introduce himself as Toshinori (Izuku never met him, nor was he originally caught by the slime Villain. Or maybe he did. The ideas are kinda blurring together. LOL) as a card-carrying associate of All Might's and offers them some advice. The training goes on for years, because in this verse U.A. is a college rather than a high school. Eventually, he offers Izuku One For All, but has to do so in front of Kacchan. Obviously she's all for it. And yeah, goes from there.**

 **Simple enough idea. Either Izuku's Quirk is – or he eats – the Ope Ope no mi. Basically a bit of an answer for the sheer lack of healing Quirks in the series. I would like to see this one as a no-One For All Izuku.**

 **Huh, putting all those ideas together into one could be a pretty sweet story actually. Maybe I'll see what I can come up with and do a pilot chapter or something. I don't know. I feel like I should have learned my lesson with multiple stories for the same fandom already.**

 **And hey! If any of you guys want to take one of these ideas and run with them, be my guest. Just let me know!**


	4. Halcyon Days and A Phantom Menace

**Hey everyone! Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter!**

 **Now, a fair number of you were mentioning that I forgot about Izuku's blue healing fire. I assure you, I did not. :D**

 **A lot of you also really enjoyed my Yu Yu Hakusho idea. I may or may not try something with that one at some point. No promises. I actually have a short prologue-ish outline created for it, but nothing beyond that. I may do a pilot chapter just to get it out of my head, but I really would like to focus on a single story per fandom before I end up with another Crush situation.**

 **Huge shout out to The Sinful for creating a TV Tropes page for this fic! Cheers buddy! You all can find it under fanfic / theemeraldphoenix. AO3 readers can just click this link:** /Fanfic/TheEmeraldPhoenix

 **-]|[-**

 **Chapter IV:** **Halcyon Days and A Phantom Menace**

 **-]|[-**

"Midori, Inasa, are we going to have our first big group training today?" Mina asked cheerfully later that day. "You guys have any ideas for what we could do?" All classes for the day were done now, and they had all been let go for the day. After such a fun day of Hero training, Mina was all fired up and still raring to go.

"I don't see why not!" Inasa yelled in much the same manner, "The earlier we start and get an exercise regime set up, the easier it'll be to maintain it!"

"I-I was actually thinking we could take it a bit easier today, and just do some lighter training." Izuku surprised them with that statement. Still, he kept on smiling despite the confused looks he got in return, "We hardly know each other and how our powers do and don't work, especially in terms of endurance. I f-figure it'll be easier to learn how to help each other if we g-get to know e-each other first!"

"A very astute observation, Midoriya-kun!" Iida threw his two yen into the pile, "A group session getting to know one another's abilities would be a huge boon in helping each other overcome our limitations!"

"We are a fairly big group though, Iida-chan." Tsuyu croaked from his side, "Do we have any ideas of where we could go? Kero, kero."

At those words Momo started bouncing happily, a small flush of happiness on her face, "Oh, we could always go to my home! We have plenty of space to practice in too!" She was practically vibrating from excitement. ' _Coming to this school had been her best decision ever! I feel like I finally have friends!'_

"Oooaah! Really, Yaomomo?" Mina started to match the black-haired girl in glee, "That would be pretty sweet! I can't wait to see your house!"

"Oh, I should call Mother and have her open up the hall!" Momo continued, not noticing how several of her classmates seemed to have a brain freeze moment as they contemplated the word 'hall.' "What kind of tea are you all partial to? We always drink Harrod's or Wedgewood!"

'Harrod's and Wedgewood _Tea?!_ ' Inasa'a – and several others – eyes started bugging out at that, recognizing the words if not the brand of tea.

"Oh, but if you have any preferences please let me know and we can send out one of the butlers to pick some up!" Momo went on obliviously, her bounciness actually intensifying as she thought about bringing so many friends home.

' **BUTLERS?!** 'Ochaco had the strangest look on her face as she stared at the beautiful girl, a sudden thought occurring to her. ' _W-w-wait! Is Yaomomo '_ _ **rich'**_ _rich?_ '

' _I tried to hit on her?!_ ' Kaminari almost started to panic.

Several of the others were just smiling blankly and nodding, choosing to focus on how giddy the girl was acting instead. Mina in particular was internally giggling at how warm and fuzzy Momo was acting, ' _It's like she casually slapped me with the differences in how we were born but_ _she's so cute and adorable I don't even care._ '

' _T-too cute!_ ' Izuku blushed helplessly as he stared in her direction.

"Well, that's the where settled!" Inasa took charge, "We should get going before we burn too much daylight! We do still have classes tomorrow after all!"

"Ah!" Momo snapped out of it, "Right! I'll phone ahead so that they'll be expecting us! Hopefully there's enough room in the car." She mumbled to herself as she stepped away momentarily.

"It's going to be a limo isn't it?" Kaminari asked flatly.

Yes. Yes, it was.

 **-]|[-**

Practically everyone who had decided to join them for this training time was sitting incredibly stiffly around the truly _massive_ cherry wood table in Momo's dining hall. Only a couple of them were able to relax in the slightest, and even then they were nervous and rather terrified of damaging anything as expensive as literally everything around them looked to be. There was even a damned chandelier above them and the entire compound was _gigantic._ All of them were _super_ intimidated.

"I hope everyone is comfy!" Momo said cheerily as she walked in, pushing a cart with a dozen teacups and multiple kettles, "Please, make yourselves at home!" the rich girl was so happy she was actually sparkling.

The sparkly arrival immediately defused a lot of the nervous tension in the room by sheer adorable overload, with the group thought of ' _S-so cute!_ ' Once everyone had taken at least some sips of the admittedly-delicious tea, they settled around the table for their discussion.

Izuku – valiantly holding back a blush – somehow found himself seated between Momo and Mina, both of whom had gone straight for him. "So, I figure that we could just talk about our Quirks and things we've tried with em!" Mina grinned at the rest of them, "I'm sure all of us have things that we've tried and failed at! I had a bunch of accidents burning through my clothes when I was younger! Wahaha!" She let out a cheery laugh at the thought, not noticing Izuku go slightly redder.

"S-sure, that sounds g-great Mina!" Izuku managed to get out without much stammering, though it was obvious he was still nervous. "How about I start then, since it was my idea initially?"

"Of course!" Momo smiled brightly at him, "The floor is yours, Izuku-san!"

Izuku smiled and leaned back, before his grin turned surprisingly mischievous, ' _ **Well, my Quirk is called Phoenix Force! You all already know that makes me a psychic.**_ '

Several gasps rang out around the table because Izuku had not moved his lips an inch, yet they heard his voice loud and clear! "Wow, you really are a psychic! You can talk telepathically!" Momo exclaimed, clapping her hands. Inwardly she was thinking through the implications of that, and suddenly became very thankful that Izuku wanted to be a hero so much.

"You'd totally be able to get around my Quirk without even trying." Kyōka looked a little irritated at the thought, "Even I can't hear you if you don't say anything."

Tokoyami leaned forward, his voice rumbling, "Does that mean you can also read our minds?"

Several of them stiffened as they all reached the same conclusion Momo had a second ago, looking at the boy a little uneasily.

Izuku nodded, "I can. Well… barely. I can feel emotions, but any more than that I consider a huge invasion of privacy. I have basically zero practice with it because of that and would never even try to do it unless I need to. That was how I knew Aizawa-sensei was lying about the expulsion thing. He just hadn't _felt_ like a liar when I skimmed his emotions."

"That is a little scary Midoriya-chan, but I think you're a good person, so I think you wouldn't abuse it, kero." Tsuyu threw out, smiling gently at him.

Izuku smiled back, touched at her trust, "Never! Like I said, I'd only use it as a last resort."

"Hmmm, that ain't good though. You'd have like mad advantages against any Villains you were fighting if you used it more often" Camie threw out, "I'm not saying to start digging around in our heads during the day, but you should totes be practicing it during Hero Classes."

"Agreed." Tokoyami said with a sharp nod in her direction, "Moreover, if you practice it more maybe you'll be able to do large-scale coordination tactics, linking the minds of many heroes into a single interconnected team."

"Huh…" Izuku looked touched at their trust in him, and at the fact they weren't decrying his ability like he had feared they would, "I guess I never thought of it like that. My telepathy was always more a byproduct of what I saw as my real Quirk. You… you guys would really trust me to do that?" He asked, his voice once more giving away how unsure of himself he was.

Mina latched onto his arm, making him jump with a squeak, "Of course we trust ya, Midori! Just the fact that you're telling us about it is enough for me. You didn't have to do it." She grinned widely at him, "You shouldn't be afraid of being the best Hero you can be! That's why we're all here, yeah? So don't hesitate to improve! Now, what other things can you do? With that little reveal I'm super hyped up! We know you can fly – how fucking badass is that anyway? -" Mina skillfully ignored Iida being a fuddy-duddy at her language as she went on, "- and can do force blasts that hit like All Might's punches on top of it! Plus, you have that awesome sword technique! Its super cool!"

Izuku went red at the praise, "T-thank you, M-Mina! Let's see… I can move things telekinetically – myself included. You saw that in the battle trial after Kaminari-san managed to electrocute me – and I have some abilities with fire too! My blue fire can heal my injuries-"

"Wait what?!" The whole room exploded at that, "That's too overpowered!" Kaminari yelled, pointing at him with a shaking finger, "Why the hell didn't you use it in our fight then, huh?"

"That's such an amazing Quirk!" Mina – and Kirishima too – were crying crocodile tears, "It's so cool! I'm too jealous!" She sobbed theatrically as she clutched onto his shoulder, making him go rigid as he felt two very soft somethings press into his arm. "Share with me, Midoriiiii~!" She play-wailed.

"W-well!" Izuku cleared his throat as he tried to get his face under control. Mina was so _cuddly,_ and he was just _not_ used to that. Heck he still wasn't used to talking to girls period, much let having one _want_ to be this close to him, "Healing myself takes up a lot of energy. And the bigger or more widespread the injury is, the more stamina it costs. An electrocution is… kind of a fully body injury I guess? And you got me multiple times. I would have been exhausted trying to heal myself. Plus, the flames would have blocked my vision since they would have been covering my entire body. You would have just gotten me again while I was trying to heal myself. I thought that puppeting myself was just a better use of my powers. Back when I first developed my Quirk, I actually couldn't use it without getting injured. It took me a fair while to learn how to call it up whenever I wanted, and even longer to learn to suppress it if I thought it would be a bad time to use it."

He let out a nervous chuckle as several of them started nodding in understanding, "Though I guess I did forget about it once the match was over. I could have healed myself but let Recovery Girl do it instead. Probably a bad idea. Her Quirk tires me out even more than my own." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Hmm, if your powers are psychic, does that mean you share the same weaknesses?" Momo surprised them by asking, "A couple of old comics in my collection have characters with similar powers – though to be honest you don't use yours even remotely the way they do! I haven't even seen you use the Pstandard Psychic Pstance once yet!" Several of them almost choked as their image of Momo as a possible prim and proper ojou-sama was suitably destroyed, "-and knocks to the head tend to be more debilitating than normal."

Izuku froze in place, "Huh… I don't know. I've never been hit in the head before." Inwardly he mirrored some of the others with a, ' _She's a comic fan?!_ ' Although in his case it was more a squeal of joy. ' _Maybe we can talk comics together sometime.'_

Kyōka snarked, "Good thing you have that helmet in your costume then, huh?"

Izuku nodded, not at all mentioning that the helmet was only in his costume because of All Might's hairstyle. Nope. Not opening his mouth. No way. Instead, he changed the subject, "So, how about your Quirk, Momo-san?"

"Well, as you know I am able to create anything I know the molecular structure of." She smiled – though Izuku noticed that her lips and eyebrows had twitched a bit like she wanted to frown, as though she were disappointed for some reason – and went on, "Unfortunately, anything I make comes from my skin and is constructed using my lipids, so it does become a matter of surface area when I am using it. That is why my costume shows so much skin." She pouted a bit, "I wish it didn't have to be that way. It is fairly limiting, and I've ripped through a lot of costume designs."

There were several red faces around the table. Izuku though, surprisingly was not one of them. Instead, he noticed how down on herself Momo was getting. She dipped her head, "And my creation speed leaves a lot to be desired. I panicked and couldn't do anything useful during our ma-"

"Hey, that's not true at all." Izuku ignored his social awkwardness as best he could and laid a hand on her shoulder, firmly, "We went over this in class, didn't we? You were invaluable for your team. You made a _fully functioning drone_ in a scant few seconds. You were able to create military-grade gear to locate and breach into a defended area. You were amazing, Momo-san."

Momo blushed a bit, "…I…I wish I had your confidence in my Quirk. But everything I try to make is just so slow. Unless it's incredibly simple I always take too long to prepare."

"Make something!" Izuku said. No **commanded**.

"Uhh!" Momo went wide-eyed at being put on the spot so suddenly. "I- make wh-"

"Make something!" He cut her off, making her jump in shock at the sudden aggression in his voice.

This time she didn't even stop to think and just reacted. One of her favorite matryoshka dolls popped out of her arm and landed on the table. They all stared at the tiny toy for a moment, before it rose into the air. It came apart and the many – exquisitely detailed – layers separated and revealed themselves. Izuku chuckled, "Momo, you made something _this_ detailed on the spot. I didn't give you time to think or prepare. You just _did_ it."

"I-" Momo cut off, staring at her doll for a moment, before she slumped, "It's not that simple. That was the very first thing I ever successfully created. It's one of my favorites."

Camie surprised them by jumping into the conversation at that point. "Like, why would that matter? Like, even if you're like, totally brilliant – which we all know you totes are – you're not a computer. You can't like, save the design in your memory, right? You're not a 3D printer. And even if you were, those things can like, take _hours_ for really detailed things."

"Utsushimi-san-" Izuku started to say.

But the owner of the name instantly threw a weapons-grade pout his way and tried to correct him, leaning over the table to poke him in the forehead. "Ca-m-ie~! Say it with me, cutie. Camie-chan!"

Blushing hard, he acquiesced, "C-camie-c-chan is right. You're brilliant! But without a Brain-Type Quirk, there's just no way even someone as smart as you can _actually_ be doing what you think you're doing. The way you're describing it makes it seem like you're doing it layer by layer, atom by atom. And that's crazy! Look at even this simple doll! You had to create five perfectly-sized-and-shaped shells. All of them already _painted_ in all sorts of colors which is a _bunch_ of different chemicals! And then create it all in the correct package, one within the other. Without me giving you a moment to think. In less than a second! That puts even the best fabricators to shame!"

He waved his hand vaguely towards the window trying to indicate UA and the match they'd fought earlier that day. "And then there was the drone! You created something with _programming_ already installed! That's not something _physical_! Plus, there was that battery! You created something that was _already holding_ an electrical charge! _Something_ has to be going on which we're not seeing."

Momo was looking at him, her mouth open in a cute little 'o.' "I…" She looked at the doll, grabbing it out of the air gently with both hands and staring at it. She then pulled it into her chest and hugged it, looking a little lost, "I… I never thought about it that way. That, I…" she trailed off, overwhelmed.

"Holy cow Yaomomo!" Mina looked like she was having _ideas_. Momo's Quirk had _so much potential_ that even _she_ hadn't realized. ' _Holy shit, she could totally be an anime protag! We totally have to dive into some comics and video games for ideas! If she can make an already-charged battery and a drone with actual programming already installed, what the hell_ can't _she make? HOLY SHIT! WHAT IF SHE CAN MAKE A LIGHTSABER?_ ' The pink-haired girl did not have a chance to shout her amazing idea out, because someone else was already speaking. She'd have to save it for later.

Ochaco on the other hand just sounded _awed_ when she spoke up, "Your Quirk may be just as OP as Deku-kun's! I didn't even think about your drone actually needing programing." She stopped, and a strange expression ran across her face, "And wait a minute! If you're really using your fat cells to make everything, how are you not…" She paused, looking as if she was thinking carefully about what to say as her cheeks darkened a bit, "Okay, sorry Yaomomo, but it's gotta be said. How are you not like, 500 pounds? You made a cannon and a jaw of life without eating anything in between! Even if it was just the cannon, that's still a couple hundred pounds! I know we're not that far into physics yet but I'm sure we've all heard about conservation of mass!"

"I am suddenly no longer enjoying this conversation." Kaminari slumped, "You said the 'P' word." Most of them ignored him, though Mina shot him a commiserating look before focusing back.

"Not only that…" Iida sounded a bit nonplussed as he shifted the conversation back to what Momo had created instead of _how_ she was doing it. Even he had more sense than to touch the 'conservation of mass' bit with a ten-foot pole. "The tablets you used would have needed programming to turn the film the drone was taking into useable data. Or in other words… a way to display the video. All of which _also_ needed to already be charged."

"Screw 'might!' Your Quirk is just as powerful as my man's, Yaomomo! Wahahaha!" Inasa started to cackle in glee, "Oh, this group up was an awesome idea!"

The sheer belief her new friends had in her – as well as the absurdity of truth in the latter part of Ochaco's statement, which she was now kicking herself for overlooking – was starting to overwhelm the heiress, and some tears started forming at the edges of her eyes, "T-thank you so much." She clenched a fist and held it in front of her, "I won't let any of you down! I'll work night and day to make my Quirk as amazing as you all believe it to be!"

"We have your back, Momo-san!" Izuku gave her a thumbs-up, "We'll help you with whatever you need!" He then seemed to realize what he was saying and blushed once more. Momo saw and matched him both of them looking away and fidgeting slightly.

Mina smirked as she saw them, ' _They're both too cute. I need to tease Midori more, and Yaomomo too!_ '

"I have a question, Jīrō-san." Tokoyami turned his attention to the purple-haired girl, wishing to help Izuku out before the girls closed in on him like so many sharks smelling blood. "How were you not effected by Kirishima-san's racket during your match? With the way we saw you using your Quirk, I thought it would have been a good way to overwhelm you. It must have taken quite a bit of training to overcome it."

Kyōka snickered, "Kyōka or Jīrō-chan is fine, dude, I'm not much for formality. And you're right, but not exactly for the reasons you're thinking. I love concerts and they're _loud_. I could never enjoy one if I couldn't learn to focus my Quirk properly. Let alone our classes with an asshole like Explody Pants around." She twirled her ear-jack as several of them deadpanned at her, grinning, "Plus, I do have a little help. Even if mom never became a Hero she still has an almost exact match with my own Quirk. She helped a lot. She taught me how to tune out certain noises entirely and amplify others. It took me only a couple seconds to dim Kirishima's racket down to a manageable level and also turn up the volume on Hagakure-chan."

"Wow, that's awesome!" Izuku's notebook was out again, "Can you do anything like Present Mic? I know you're able to project sounds like your heartbeat the way he does his voice, but have you tried to do other stuff like that?"

"Simple stuff only." Kyōka told him with a shrug, "You know, like Morse code and stuff like that. Unfortunately, I can't really do any complex sounds. Mic-sensei's Quirk is way more OP than mine."

"Ooh, what about your instruments?" Momo asked, latching on to the conversation, "I saw the way you were using your costume. You plugged both jacks into the speakers. What if you do one jack into an instrument and use yourself as an amplifier? Or even just connect to your music player. You could even do pre-recorded messages on your phone!" Kyōka stared at her, her jaw slightly unhinged. Momo kept smiling for a moment, before faltering, "Uhhh, Kyōka-san? Have I upset you in some way?"

"HOW THE FUCK DID I NEVER THINK OF THAT?!" Kyōka finally exploded, waving her arms up and down. Momo jumped in her seat, flinching slightly, "Gah, I'm such a-! Uggh!"

"Wahahaha! That's two out of three! This was such a great idea, my man!" Inasa gave Izuku a thumbs up as they watched Momo make a speaker for Kyōka, who immediately tried it with her player and started banging her head on the table when it worked perfectly. Momo patted her on the shoulder, starting to giggle a little helplessly followed by Camie and Mina.

Their talk continued late into the evening, and by the time everyone went home, they had barely done any practice at all. But they felt it was worth it, because everyone went to bed that night with either new technique ideas or new perspectives on their Quirks.

 **-]|[-**

What they all found on the way into school the next day tried even _Izuku's_ patience. The school entrance was positively being _mobbed_ by reporters and they were hounding the students. And not one of them looked to have learned the manners his mother had taught him when he was a child, getting into the student's faces and hounding them with questions one after another.

He glanced over at Kōda who was surrounded and looking like he was just barely staving off a panic attack. The large boy was waving his hands back and forth and looked to be sweating bullets. ' _Is he claustrophobic?_ ' he wondered as he pushed past the microphone in his face and marched forward. He never would have had the courage to follow through with this before his Quirk showed up and he befriended All Might and Inasa, "What are you all doing? Can't you see he looks uncomfortable?" He patted himself on the back for saying it all without stuttering, "Come on, Kōda-kun." He grabbed the boy and started gently pushing aside the reporters, only partially feeling any guilt when he had to nudge them with his Quirk on occasion.

"We just want to know about All Might!" One of them nearly showered him in spittle, looking like a rabid dog.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!" He heard Kacchan's voice somewhere up ahead, as well as the familiar crackle of threatening pops from **Explosion**.

"We're all trying to get to class and you're going to make us late!" He heard Mina from his left, and he veered off with Kōda to join up with her.

Kirishima was there as well, giving him his fanged grin, "My man! How are you today, Midoriya?"

"I'll be better when we're in the building." Izuku muttered, clapping hands with the redhead. "Hey m-Mina!"

"Hey Midori!" She cheered immediately upon seeing him, "Man, these guys just won't get a clue, will they?"

"How does All Might look in front of the class?!" They twisted and saw an uncomfortable-looking Ochaco flexing at one of the cameras, though they couldn't hear what she was saying. Izuku veered off again and grabbed her, adding her to the clique.

"-Eminent educational institution. Beyond his obvious dignity and presence, he is also quite humorous. As we students are privy to observing his many facets…" They saw some reporters clearing away from Iida's voice, and boggled when they realized the studious boy had just kept on talking to nothing, not realizing they had left.

Mina started cackling loudly as she grabbed him, "Bwahaha, that was awesome dude! You actually bored them into leaving you alone! What a great plan!"

"H-how rude!" Iida looked shocked, "I was merely answering their questions diligently! Did they really just leave me standing there?"

Mina almost doubled over at that, laughing so hard she was almost crying. She hung off of Izuku, who was biting his lip at Iida's indignant look and having Mina pressing into him like this again. ' _Oh god, is this going to be a daily thing? My heart can't take it.'_

"Good work avoiding the idiots, you lot. Hurry to homeroom." Aizawa praised them once they reached the barrier. He passed them nonchalantly, and went straight up to the reporters, "All Might is off today. You're disturbing our students. Leave now, or be arrested for disturbing the peace, invasion of private property, and harassment of minors without parental consent."

The reporters started to clamor once more, "We just want an interview with the number one Hero! And why should we listen to someone who looks so shabby?"

Aizawa ignored them all, turning back around with his piece already said. He walked through the barrier, smirking when he heard it slam shut with a clang. ' _Morons._ ' Their indignant groans were music to his ears.

 **-]|[-**

"Good work on the Battle Trials yesterday." Aizawa addressed his homeroom. He let his words of praise settle into their little mental worlds for a moment, before his eyes narrowed at them. Several students went stiff in their seats as his gaze turned to them. Aizawa glanced at Aoyama, Todoroki, Mineta, and Bakugo, holding their gazes for a moment each before going on. "For the most part. Several of you need to work on your egos as well as your teamwork. There were some pitiful performances yesterday. You know full well who you are." He speared a now-stiff Katsuki with his best glare, "And several of you had performances that were beyond pitiful. You all may have had no audio during the matches, but that was not the case for All Might and the rest of the faculty. We heard **every word**. Bakugo! The world doesn't revolve around you and until you make something of yourself, you are nothing I haven't seen and expelled a hundred times before. Grow up and stop wasting your talent before you see your dream explode in front of your eyes."

Katsuki's jaw clenched, but he was calmer now. More focused. "Got it." His rage had burned brightly for _hours_ after they had been dismissed the previous day, until he was utterly exhausted. Only then did he start thinking back and trying to see where he had gone wrong. "Won't happen again."

"Good. See to it that it doesn't, or the **best** you can hope for is many, many remedial lessons." Aizawa stared at him for a moment longer, before moving on to Aoyama, "Aoyama, neither you nor your partner had abilities suited to tracking your enemies. Which is why the utter implosion in teamwork the two of you suffered was beyond simply illogical. You both actively sabotaged yourselves and each other. Do not think I did not notice you coincidentally almost hitting Bakugo with your laser. Shape up or you'll be shipped out too. Ego has no place here."

Aoyama was decidedly not sparkling today, and he wilted further at the dress-down. "Oui, sensei."

To the side, Katsuki's intense look got even more irritated as he had confirmation that the sparkly fake frog _had_ actually been trying to hit him the previous day. Still, he took a breath and let it go. For now.

Aizawa nodded and turned to Todoroki, who surprised them all by standing, "Before you say anything, Aizawa-sensei, I would like to speak."

"Very well." Aizawa let him have the floor.

The heterochromic boy turned to Camie and Sero and bowed to each of them, deeply, "I apologize to your both. I overreacted above and beyond any reasonable scope and put a sour note on the exercise. I am very sorry for injuring you, Utsushimi-san."

"Hey dude, it's like… it's cool." She finished lamely. Camie looked a little uncomfortable surprisingly.

Todoroki straightened, "I would also like to apologize to the rest of you as well. I was arrogant and that was unbecoming of me. It will not happen again." The last part of his statement came at a slightly different tone. He sat back down.

"Very well." Aizawa nodded, pleased that at least one student had already learned his lesson. "We all were able to see you had realized your mistake as soon as it happened. You know what you did wrong and know what you have to fix. That is the reason we are being lenient. You will serve detention with me, and you still owe All Might that essay."

"Yes sir." Todoroki replied evenly, head still a little bowed.

Aizawa's eyes flashed red as he glared at Mineta, who squeaked in his seat, "In some ways, perhaps the worst performance of all of you was yours, Mineta. I seem to recall telling you at the end of the first day that the only reason you were not going home was that I saw a meager amount of potential in you. After watching that Battle Trial, I am forced to think that I wasn't quite clear enough. Allow me to clarify; another incident out of you and you're out. If you can't control your proclivities then you're never going to be anything of note, much less a Hero. Shape up or you're gone." Mineta was trembling in such terror he couldn't even speak, "Well?" Aizawa barked sharply.

"Y-yes sir!" The short boy managed to squeak out, only sagging in his chair once the attention turned away from him.

Aizawa glared for a moment longer, "And now that we have the more… egregious examples out of the way… Hagakure! You may not have gotten much chance to shine, but we all saw that you took the exercise seriously. And obviously, a day or two isn't enough to get you up to where we would like you. However, you're on the right track. Good work. Keep working hard and we'll make a Hero out of you yet."

"Yes sensei!" Hagakure sounded utterly relieved, and they could see her clothes slumping slightly in her seat.

Aizawa glanced back down to his papers, "The same goes for you, Kirishima. You displayed the right attitude during the battle, and correctly focused on the objective rather than your opponent. Excellent work. You need to improve your ability to deal with speedy opponents. You already saw that not everyone is going to want to sit and trade blows with you. Work on your planning and ability to work with others. You and Hagakure could not decide on a plan and made the worst move you could have made in your situation by splitting up. Two-on-two would have been a better match than two one-on-ones. Overcome your limits."

Kirishima banged his fists together, "You got it Aizawa-sensei!"

"Yoarashi! You obviously have the power and enthusiasm, but you need to learn when to calm down. You raced ahead of your partner which could have gotten him killed if you were facing real Villains. Not everyone is going to be capable of keeping up with you and you need to be more aware of that." Aizawa was past the point of any real irritation, so he didn't glare too much at the boisterous boy.

"YES, SENSEI!" Inasa stood and once again banged his head while bowing.

Izuku bit back a groan when he saw it. ' _He's just going to start losing brain cells if he keeps doing that… Damn it Inasa…'_

"Don't damage the desks." Aizawa deadpanned, causing Inasa to apologize profusely, "Moving on… Midoriya, mistakes like that can end promising careers. Don't do it again."

Izuku did not even have to ask what the teacher was talking about, "It almost cost us the match and was extremely painful. A hard lesson to learn, sensei."

"Other than that, you did a great job. Continue to grow and improve." Aizawa nodded to him before turning to Momo, "Yaoyorozu, Ashido already spoke to you about this. Make sure your assumptions are correct before you implement your plans with such confidence. That can get you hurt if you aren't careful."

She nodded but did not say anything in response.

Aizawa turned to Iida, "Iida, your plan with Uraraka was well-thought-out and implemented. However, you both went overboard once you had already secured your victory. There was no reason for you to keep engaging with your opponents once Uraraka removed the bomb and doing so got you captured. Uraraka also jumped in to save you once Bakugo turned your attack back at you. The both of you could have gotten flawless victories if you had known when to back off. Especially with the way those two were arguing with one another. The both of you need to learn to exercise better judgement in picking your battles."

"My sincerest apologies, sensei!" Iida stood and bowed deeply.

Aizawa held back an eye-roll, "Cut it out. You both did well. You just have areas you need to improve on. That's why you're all here, is it not?" He flipped a page on his packet, "The rest of you did extremely well and I have no major advice to give. Some of you won, some of you were simply overpowered despite stacking the odds in your favor. That is something that is simply going to happen on occasion and is something you need to learn to recognize. The only other point I have to make is this: **always** make sure your opponent is down and out before you take your eyes off of them. Midoriya almost lost his match because of that mistake and though they won the match, Utsushimi and Sero's victory was pyrrhic. Had that been real, they could have died. All of you need to either start taking this seriously or keep on target. That is all."

"Yes, sensei!" The loud chant from his class hit his ears, and he allowed the slightest upturn of his lips to show for a bare second, before he continued.

He finished shuffling his papers and walked to the blackboard, so he could get behind his desk, "Now, sorry for springing this on you so suddenly, but there is something you must do." A nervous tension rose behind him, with several wondering if they were about to get hit with a brutal pop quiz, "You must pick a Class President."

The tension bubble basically popped, "Such a normal school activity!" They cheered as the room electrified.

"PICK ME! LEMME DO IT!" Kirishima yelled loudly.

"I want to be a leader!" Mina started to cheer as well, raising her hand high.

"The position was made for me." Aoyama was back to sparkling and was summarily ignored.

"I'd like to do it as well." Kyōka raised her hand, but she was definitely the most relaxed of them all.

"My administration will require girls to show thirty centimeters of thigh!" Mineta crowed, his lambasting overlooked quickly. Well, _internally_ at least. All of them stopped and turned to glare at the boy. He quickly started to squirm in place and shrank back into his seat.

"Sensei, what does the position actually involve?" Izuku cut across the new, angry tension to ask the teacher. He didn't honestly want to save Mineta from his well-deserved fate – as the short boy continued giving him (and the rest of the class) some very creepy vibes – but they did actually need that information. "With this being a Hero school, I'm wondering what our responsibilities would be and what it would mean in terms of extra work."

"Hmm, I suppose that is a logical question to ask." Aizawa replied, "Very well. The primary duty of the Class President is to be the second in command behind myself or any other teacher while in the field. Ours is a dangerous profession, so a clear chain of command is important to have during possible emergencies. The Vice President would then be the class president's second, or third overall in the chain." He sat down in his chair before continuing, "You would be responsible for corralling and leading the rest of the class and making sure everyone is safe, on the off chance that the Pro Hero with you is indisposed or otherwise occupied. Hard-headed refusals to follow your orders would be met with _strict_ punishment once the situation is resolved."

He saw that several of the students no longer looked as excited for the position as they had been, and he almost smiled, "Furthermore, the President and the rest of their 'cabinet' will also have the power to organize events for the class, pending approval from the school, of course. They will also be able to bring up proposals that they think may help improve either the class, any individual's scholastic standing, or even the school itself to the faculty's attention. No guarantees that any such proposals would be accepted, of course. So, who's it going to be?"

"I'm out!" Camie laughed, "I think that's a bit too much responsibility for my book, ya feel me?"

Several other also dropped out, while those like Katsuki – knowing it meant being the leader of the group, in a sense – raised their hands even higher, with the explosive boy snorting almost like a bull. Izuku was also about to put his name in, when Iida spoke, "Quiet down everyone!" He stood, "Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility and ambition does not equate to ability! This sacred office demands the trust of its constituents! If this is to be a democracy, then I put forward the motion… that our true leader must be chosen by election!"

All of this was said with the straightest face possible while his entire body trembled from trying to raise his hand the highest, causing many of the students to laugh, with Kaminari leading the way. "This is a classroom, not congress! Chill bro!"

"And you're totally raising your hand the highest, dude." Camie joined him in giggling.

Tsuyu put her finger on her chin in thought, "We did have that group session yesterday after classes, but I'm not sure that's enough to truly build enough trust, kero."

"Won't everyone just vote for themselves anyway?" Kirishima asked him.

Iida chopped in his direction, "That's precisely why anyone who manages to earn multiple votes will be the best-suited candidate for the job!" He turned to Aizawa, "Will you allow this, Sensei?"

"Don't care. Do as you wish. Just make it quick." The class sweatdropped seeing the caterpillar was having a triumphant return. As they watched, he laid down and went to sleep behind the desk.

"Alright then! Everyone who is interested, raise your hands!" he stood and went to the blackboard to take names down. Most of the class still was interested, and he quickly jotted down the names.

Meanwhile, Momo had made a top hat which she brought to the front of the class, "Utsushimi-san, would you collect the votes and tally them for us as a neutral third party?"

Camie stood with a grin, "Sure, would be happy to! And I thought I told you to call me Camie-chan, Yaomomo!"

Momo giggled momentarily as she passed the hat to the busty fawn-haired girl. "Of course. My apologies, Camie-chan."

Minutes later, Camie let out a giggle as she stood aside from the board, "Well, this turned out just the way I hoped! Check it out!"

Izuku's jaw dropped as he saw the number next to his name, "S-s-seven?!" He had shown interest – how could he not? It was good practice for when he took All Might's place. It was a challenge he wanted to see through, to grow as a person. – but he never expected to blow the competition away!

"Who the fuck voted for shitty Deku?!" Katsuki roared in indignation.

"Guess we know it wasn't you!" Sero snickered nearby, "I'm surprised you got any. I figured after yesterday your vote'd be in the negatives!" He jeered in good humor. "Y'know, people putting down 'anyone but Bakugo'."

"What was that you shitty tape dispenser?" Katsuki roared as he whirled around, growling as several of the others joined in on ribbing him.

As he walked to the front with Momo, Izuku was inwardly shuddering a bit, ' _Seeing Kacchan on the other end of teasing… is so surreal._ '

"Zero votes!" Iida trembled in shame, "I thought as much… This is the reality of this sacred office…"

"What the hell dude? You didn't even vote for yourself when you wanted it?" Kaminari looked a little weirded out.

"You even proposed the election man. The hell was your plan?" Mina had a question mark over her head.

"Congratulations, Izuku-san." Momo gave him a bright smile, not at all disappointed with her own tally of six, putting her as Izuku's VP.

"T-thanks! I can't believe I got so many!" He grinned at her, before bashfully muttering, "I actually voted for you."

She swallowed a gasp, and instead settled for smiling warmly at him, "And I for you."

As both of them blushed and glanced away resolutely, Mina couldn't help but squeal, for the second time in two days at the uber-cuteness. ' _They're both so damn cuuuuute!_ '

"You both will do awesome! You were totally manly during the Battle Trials!" Kirishima shouted.

Momo rolled her eyes a bit, "I should hope not." She muttered under her breath before sending a smile toward Izuku then turning back to the rest of the class.

"We'll do our best everyone! Thank you f-for putting your trust in us!" Izuku took a breath, before putting on his best smile and clenching a fist in front of him, "We won't let you down!"

"Yeah!" The class cheered in response.

"You all are too loud…" Aizawa – for once – went ignored in his corner.

 **-]|[-**

"This rice is so tasty!" Ochaco nearly moaned in rapture as they all sat for lunch. She was in between Iida and Tsuyu.

"Agreed. Lunch Rush is truly a wonder. Even some of the best restaurants I've been to can't match this quality. It's perfect." Momo said primly and coming from her, that was probably a grand approval. "I am a bit curious though. If you don't mind me asking, who did you vote for, Uraraka-san?"

"I voted for Deku! He's just been amazing the entire time I've known him. Ever since the Entrance Exam." She giggled as Izuku went red at the praise.

"Indeed. Your grit and decisiveness in a pinch is truly admirable. I felt those qualities made you perfectly suited to lead us. I also put my vote in for you." Iida revealed his own vote.

"On the other hand, I voted for Momo-chan. She impressed me very much during the Battle Trials and the Quirk Assessment Test, kero." Tsuyu said after finishing her bite of salmon. She got a beaming grin from the heiress in return.

"I did as well. She totally blew us all away. Even Mr. Pres!" Kyōka grinned at the two of them.

"Tsuyu-san! Kyōka-san!" Momo sparkled as she smiled at them, "I will endeavor not to let either of you down! Thank you for placing your trust in me!"

"I don't get it though!" Ochaco turned to Iida, "I thought you really wanted to become president, Iida-kun. You've got the glasses and everything!"

Izuku and Inasa bit back grins as they glanced at each other, ' _She really just says whatever pops into her head, huh?_ '

"Ambition and suitability are entirely different matters." Iida replied calmly, though a tad bit morosely if you paid attention to his tone, "I humbly made the choice I felt would be the best. My admiration for my brother inspired me to become a Hero on my own. However, I realized during the past few days that I am not truly ready to be a leader like him yet. It is something I have to work on. Midoriya-kun outperformed us all in the Entrance Exams in a way I had not even considered until the exam was all but over and hasn't slowed down since. He's also been nothing but supportive of the rest of us, which is amazing in and of itself. I aspire to follow his example as a Hero."

"i-Iida-kun!" Izuku blushed hard, not at all used to this amount of praise.

"Yep, yep!" Mina cheered, "That's why I also voted for Midori. His plans were amazing and he's probably one of the strongest in the class."

"You guys…" Izuku started tearing up a bit, which got Mina to immediately just glomp him, something he just _knew_ for a fact was going to become normal with how often she was doing it, "M-Mina!" He was just going to have to learn to accept it. _What a hardship that would be_.

In another part of the cafeteria, Mineta started gnashing his teeth for no reason at all.

They started to chuckle lightly as Izuku's nervousness showed its ugly head, with Inasa laughingly stating that, "His confidence still needs some work though!"

"Traitor!" Izuku playfully shot back.

"I'm quite curious about your entrance exams. The Recommended Students must have done an entirely different test." Momo said, before taking another bite of her rice.

"It was pretty fun. We had to rack up points by destroying robots." Mina giggled, "They pulled a fast one on us though. They had like a massive ten-story robot that was supposed to just be a 'trap.' We were all told we'd lose all of our points if it captured us or even if we just got distracted by it and fought it!"

"Wow, that's unexpected!" Momo said, before frowning slightly, "But that means that only combat-related Quirks really got a chance to shine doesn't it? I'm sure there are some amazing heroic Quirks that would not help in that situation in the slightest."

"Looking at it by itself, you're right. However, there was actually a hidden test none of us were told about; Rescue! Basically, if we helped out the competition or showed selflessness, we were awarded points too! Plus, the whole 'lose your points' thing was actually a lie." Izuku said, "Though they could have told us after the test. They let us stew for an entire week." He started grumbling darkly under his breath.

Inasa cackled, "Yeah, they're lucky they didn't let us stew for longer than that. Me and my man here already had Shiketsu applications printed out."

Mina gasped, and squeezed harder onto Izuku, "Damn right! I would have been pissed if I never got to meet my cuddle buddy here!"

"M-Mina!" Izuku steamed under her cuddling, feeling as her chest squished into his arm and the back of his shoulder, ' _S-so soft!_ '

Momo bit her lip slightly, wondering why she felt so odd as she watched the pair. ' _Why do I feel like doing that too? Is there something wrong with me?_ '

The others laughed, before Kyōka brought up their big group, "Anyway, are we up for our group later today?"

"Of course. And like yesterday, you are all welcome at the estate." Momo confirmed with a happy grin.

"I'm afraid I need to take care of my siblings today for a couple hours. It would be too late for me to join you later, kero." Tsuyu said, shrinking down a bit in her seat. She loved her younger siblings, but it hurt that she wouldn't be able to be with her friends because of other obligations.

Kirishima let out a groan, "Sorry guys. I'm expected elsewhere as well. My dad needs my help with something."

Ochaco was frowning, "I can definitely come, but it sucks that not everyone is going to be able to make it. It would be amazing if we could just stay here on campus for our practice. They have such great facilities. Or if we just had more time every day to practice actual hero stuff."

"Huh, there's an idea, Ochaco-chan!" Camie grinned, "Wouldn't it be mad lit if U.A. had dorms?"

"Hmm…!" Momo and Izuku straightened, before they glanced at one another, "That is actually a great idea. I wonder if it has ever been considered before."

Izuku started to mumble, "With it being U.A., it wouldn't be out of the question if we brought it up, like it would be at a normal school. I mean, they have entire mock cities created around the campus, thanks to the Pro Hero Cementoss working here. The logistics of building dorms wouldn't be overwhelming or even massively time consuming…" mumble mumble mumble.

"You're doing it again, dude!" Kyōka laughed as she gave him a light-hearted jab with her jack, "Back with us Prez?"

"S-sorry!" Izuku sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"I agree though, it is a wonderful idea. Perhaps we **should** bring it up, Izuku-san. Aizawa-sensei did say we would have the power to bring up proposals that could improve the school. And I'm sure Father would not be unwilling to make a donation to the school if money was an issue." Momo muttered the last bit to herself, though thankfully she didn't go off like Izuku had.

"Oh, come on!" Kaminari didn't look convinced. "Even for U.A, there's no way a suggestion like that would be treated seriously if it came from the students. That's just pushing it!" He paused, before hesitantly asking, "Right? I'm not crazy, right?"

"Jury's out on that." Kyōka leered at him, drawing a groan from the target of her jab, "But saying that, it does sound a bit too crazy. Maybe we should speak with the other students first, yeah?"

The talks continued in a light-hearted manner, but their merriment was rudely cut off as a blaring alarm started pounding their eardrums.

At the totally unexpected racket, Kyōka was caught entirely off guard and let out a squeak of pain, clamping her hands to her ears and rapidly regulating her Quirk to try to tune the noise out. "Oww god damn it! What is going on?"

They all stood up, with poor Ochaco nearly choking on her rice. "What in the world is causing this?"

Suddenly a loud, mechanical voice started booming through the loudspeaker, " **ATTENTION! SECURITY LEVEL THREE HAS BEEN BROKEN! ALL STUDENTS MUST EVACUATE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION!** "

"What's security level three?" Iida yelled as they were starting to get swallowed up and separated by the tide of panicking students.

An upperclassman yelled back, "It means someone has infiltrated the building! This has never happened in my three years here! Hurry up and get out!"

"Oww! Get off!" Kyōka yelled as an elbow jabbed into her side. Momo was pressed up against Mina who was crushed up against Izuku. But none of them had any inclination to possibly enjoy the situation. Not when they were packed so tight together they could hardly breathe.

"Stay together guys!" Ochaco was trying her hardest to hold on to Tsuyu and Camie, who had started shoving back roughly when someone took advantage of the chaos and managed to get a grope in. She couldn't even tell who did it for any revenge.

"Kero!" For once Tsuyu's croaking did not sound adorable. She was almost wheezing from how hard she was being shoved into Inasa.

"Someone's going to get hurt!" Inasa roared as he pushed forward to keep student from pressing into Tokoyami. The raven-headed boy had been forced to jab his beak into Inasa's throat a second ago, "We got to do something, Izuku!"

Iida had meanwhile been crushed against the glass, and gasped when he realized it was the media outside, ' _Where are the teachers?! Are they all outside dealing with the press? No one knows there's no cause for alarm! Everyone just fell into a herd panic! Like gazelles stalked by a lion!_ '

He was about to try to yell something when he heard a loud cry that sounded very much like their invisible classmate!

Izuku practically had a front row seat to see it happen. Poor Tōru had been tripped and fallen completely on the ground, and the person behind her had not seen a thing and had stomped right on her thigh, before falling himself. Tōru's pained yelp rang in his ears and he could see another very large shoe approaching what must have been her head, followed by more rushing students.

Phoenix Force exploded. His body started glowing a heavy emerald as a green shine burst from him, engulfing the entire student body in it. And all movement stopped. Entirely. Some who were even mid-fall now simply floated diagonally. And drawing from his peers' encouragement from yesterday, his telepathy sought out any feelings of pain and sought to separate their hosts from the source, which meant quite a few people being forced apart.

Izuku slowly rose into the air, glowing emerald with his hair waving slightly in a nonexistent breeze. He was trembling, the exertion from freezing and holding this many people straining him heavily. And he was _not_ smiling like his Hero. No, Izuku looked _furious_.

He took a deep breath before channeling his inner Katsuki, "WHAT THE **FUCK** ARE YOU ALL DOING?!" His bellow rang in the halls even louder than the alarms. "ARE YOU HEROES IN TRAINING OR A BUNCH OF STAMPEDING IDIOTS?! CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE HURTING EACH OTHER?! YOU ALMOST CRUSHED ONE OF MY CLASSMATES!"

He glared at all of the ones he could see, seeing a wave of shame enveloping several of the older students, though many more of them yelled that they were just 'business students.' His eye twitched at that, wondering not for the first time why U.A. even _offered_ such courses to students who had literally zero interest in Heroics. General Ed and Support classes he could understand and support whole-heartedly. But marketing? In any case, that wasn't an excuse he was willing to accept, "This is U.A! The greatest Hero School in the world! Act like it!"

"Midoriya-kun, the Press is in the campus!" Iida managed to finally yell.

"The _PRESS_?" Was the general, infuriated statement that rang through the hall.

Izuku's eye twitched, "All this because of THEM? I'm starting to see why Aizawa-sensei hates them so much." He focused, feeling his body grow sweatier as he put everyone on their own feet, "You see? Students almost got hurt because of this?! If I were you all, I'd start seriously thinking about what I'm doing here at U.A regardless of what course you're following!" He said, and then he let his powers fade.

Immediately, he fell to the floor and started breathing heavily. He heard Momo say his name in shock, and she hurried to support him as he started almost falling over, "S-sorry." He panted, "Holding _that_ many people still and doing all that wiped me out."

"Don't worry Izuku." She did not realize she was dropping even the honorific from his name now, concentrating on helping him stand, his arm over her shoulder, "You did amazingly."

"Thank you so much, Midoriya-kun!" Tōru stepped close and gave him a hug, before stepping away, "You really saved my butt there. I think that big guy had been about to kick my teeth in."

Izuku was blushing, but Mina's constant cuddling meant it wasn't as bad as it could have been, "Y-you don't have to thank me for that. I couldn't let you get hurt. I did what anyone would have done."

Tōru pouted. Not that they could see it, but she did so all the same, "Mou, just take the praise. If anyone could have done it why were you the only one who did?" She grinned brightly, "We chose well, Mr. Prez!"

"You're so cool, Midori!" Mina finally caught back up and took his other side, "Now come on, we have you." She started to giggle, "Never thought I'd hear you swear though!" Izuku flushed a bit darker at her teasing and started to stammer.

"It happens on occasion." Inasa laughed once he managed to come close enough, "Not very often though. Last time I heard him swear was like four months ago when he failed a milestone in training."

"Stupid truck…" Izuku grumbled, before remembering he had finally managed it and could do it much easier ever since the entrance exam. Everyone started to giggle, the big group forming up once more and travelling as a unit towards their destination.

 **-]|[-**

"What a mess." Aizawa groaned, hours later. He hadn't been able to get a single wink in ever since he'd dismissed his homeroom. Plus, he had to stop Mic from blowing up the press. Even when he wasn't with the kids he was still a damned babysitter. ' _Although the idea does have some merit right about now…_ ' He thought to himself with an inner growl. He'd already heard all about how one of his students had almost gotten trampled.

"There's no way this was just some reporter." Vlad King sidled up to him, "That barrier was entirely disintegrated. None of their Quirks matched."

"Great." Aizawa groused, "Now we have a possible Villain with an extremely dangerous Quirk running around."

"Was this a distraction so that they could slip into the school, or a declaration of war?" The tiny Principal has his paws behind his back as he stared at the destruction. He looked to be a combination of several different animals, with a shiny white coat of fur. He sported a white dress shirt, a dark red tie around his neck, a black double-breasted waistcoat, and matching dress pants. He wore orange lace-up sneakers with incredibly thick soles which seemed to be quite large for his body.

He stepped forward and reached into one of the two large piles of dust, watching as the flakes of what had been ultra-hardened steel crumbled even more from his touch. He shook his paw to get the detritus off, and turned to face his faculty, "I think a meeting would do us some good. Chiyo, could you be a dear and access the security system? See if you can find video of the incident. Check inside the school as well. Look for any high security areas fifteen minutes post-incident."

"Of course, Nezu. I'll meet you all in the lounge as soon as I can." Recovery Girl sighed, before calmly walking away.

Nezu turned to Power Loader, "Higari, please take some samples and have them analyzed. See if you can find out what we're dealing with here." Power Loader nodded, so the principal turned to All Might, "Toshinori, you're the fastest. Sweep the school and see if you can find anyone that doesn't belong. It's been several hours, and I doubt you will, but there is no room here to be complacent. Look out for any signs of forced entry or more uses of this dastardly Quirk." He paused, "Perhaps showing yourself will also help set the children at ease, too."

" **Luckily no one got hurt.** " He smiled widely, " **We can thank young Midoriya for that. He was able to take command and force the rest to calm down. I'll show up regardless, but I think it may be unneeded.** "

"You certainly chose well, haven't you? Even if it didn't work out the way you hoped," Nezu smiled as he dropped his tone low, so the others wouldn't overhear. He spoke up again once he got a smile from his newest faculty member, "Now go. We all have work to do. The rest of you, make sure the students are calm and uninjured." As the rest of the teachers left, he turned once more to stare at the crumbled barrier. He turned and stepped away, his thoughts going down dark paths.

…

"Nothing." Aizawa's tone was flat, "Nothing at all? Not even on the cameras?"

"No." Chiyo let out a disgruntled groan, "Not even an opened door to speak of. If this was a distraction, then it wasn't a very good one. Even an invisibility Quirk would leave a mark for us to find."

"Unless the Villain possesses a Warp Quirk." Toshinori's tone was grave as he threw the idea into the air. The idea of such a powerful quirk in the hands of a villain was horrifying.

"If that is the case, it was an ingenious distraction. All of us were forced to deal with the cretins in one way or another, drawing us away from our offices." Nezu replied calmly, "It is also one with even more troubling implications… because they would have had to know where to go beforehand."

"Is U.A.'s construction public record?" Midnight was not acting up for once and was taking this extremely seriously. She may like to tease and play, but never let anyone think she did not care about the students. Even if at times, she cared perhaps a little _too_ much…

"Older buildings were. Not the newest renovations, or even the last two versions of the plans. I made sure of it." Nezu replied, "And with Cementoss here, they gave up trying to force it. We can always change the building at a moment's notice if we need to."

"If there's even a chance someone managed to get a hold of schedules and put the children in danger, we must treat it as an absolute fact and answer accordingly." Vlad King growled, "What will we do about the 1-A and 1-B trips to the USJ?"

"We should combine them." Midnight threw the suggestion forward, "Putting two of our most versatile fighters together to defend the students, along with Thirteen and All Might."

"It could work. Especially since they could all watch each other's backs." Cementoss approved of the idea.

"It would also be a good opportunity for the kids to network past their own classes before they develop cliques." Toshinori smiled, "If you recall, I did wish to host some larger-scale Battle Trials between both classes. I think some friendly rivalry between the two groups would do some good."

"Yes, I like the idea. I approve. Are you and Vlad up to it, Aizawa-kun?" Nezu asked the tired-looking man.

"Of course." Aizawa yawned tiredly, "An extra pair of hands never hurts." Vlad merely nodded.

"It is settled then. Both classes will have their joint training earlier than normal. Keep a weather eye out. If anything changes, the kids' safety is the top priority. You're all dismissed. Be prepared for anything."

 **-]|[-**

"I see your infiltration was a success, Kurogiri." The voice coming from the staticky monitor was affable and calm, yet there was an underlying current of sheer malice that could chill any onlooker.

"Indeed. Even if they suspected, I made sure my tracks were covered." The speaker was a purple, gaseous figure dressed sharply in an elegant suit and tie. "All Might will be present in the morning at their USJ facility on Friday, along with the entirety of class 1-A."

"Finally!" Tomura Shigaraki – a pale, lanky, skinny man barely out of his teens with pale, gray-blue hair who was covered in _severed hands_ – crowed in elation, "It's finally time, Sensei! Finally time for that bastard All Might to die! All the conditions are cleared to meet the final boss!"

"Of course, Tomura. I see you are excited… however, you must not underestimate your foe. A cornered animal is the most dangerous one you could face." Sensei replied, "Tell me again how you plan to accomplish your mission?"

"We have a bunch of cannon fodder to handle the brats." Shigaraki replied giddily, "I wonder how they'll scream before they die? I wonder if Nōmu will be able to play with that damned Symbol of Peace before we end him. Maybe if we break him first, he can watch his students die in agony!" He started cackling maniacally.

"Hmm, I'm not certain you've thought this through the entire way, Tomura." Sensei told him gently.

"W-what do you mean, Sensei? All Might is weak now, right? This should be easy. Even if he fights hard, there's no way he can beat Nōmu." Shigaraki turned to look at the small screen.

"Of course, of course." Sensei's tone was indulgent, "But I'm not certain this is the right way to go. After all, when you kill a Symbol you merely create a martyr, don't you? No, perhaps I have a better idea. Tell me Tomura, how does one truly kill a symbol?"

"Ehh?" Shigaraki started to scratch at his neck, a little irritation seeping in, "How do you do it sensei?"

"You kill a symbol by making it give up. You kill a symbol by ruining its legacy. You kill a symbol by _destroying_ it first." The voice on the other end was clearly smiling. "Simply killing All Might is not enough. No, no, first you must _break_ him."

 **-]|[-**

 **Hey, they can't all be monster 30k chapters, right? Sorry it was so short, but I got everything I wanted to do in this chapter done.**

 **This was definitely a set-up chapter. We're getting things ready for the conclusion of the first story arc. I have some** _ **fun**_ **things planned for the next chapter (or two. Likely two. We'll see how long the USJ gets). I had some fluff in it as well, which is always fun.**

 **I've officially run a bit dry on MHA inspiration, so the next one probably won't be for a while. I've been taking a stroll through the Pokémon fandom. Maybe I'll finally post the first chapter to that fic I started a while back. LOL**


End file.
